Fentanyl is the most common drug used in an overdose. Facilities that promise a drug-free environment can fail in their efforts to keep drugs out and allow patients to get hold of fentanyl.

Staff members can also fail to notice overdose symptoms, not respond quickly enough, and fail to take the proper action to prevent a fatal outcome.

These and other acts of negligence allow the families left behind to file wrongful death claims. They can seek support for their funeral costs, the victim’s income that can no longer support the family, and their emotional trauma.

Fentanyl Overdose Dangers in Drug Rehab Clinics

Fentanyl is a synthetic, powerful opioid. National Public Radio (NPR) confirms that fentanyl is behind the most overdose deaths in the U.S. each year.

The CDC reports that around 105,000 people died from a drug overdose in the U.S. in 2023. Nearly 80,000 (76%) of those fatal cases involved opioids like Fentanyl.

Fentanyl also makes its way into other drugs like meth and heroin. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reports that drug dealers mix it in to make drugs stronger, often in deadly doses.

Fentanyl and fentanyl-laced drugs can enter a facility and quickly cause the death of a patient, especially when victims aren’t being monitored properly. Facilities may try to blame patients, but in secure environments that are promised to be drug-free, facilities are often found liable.

Negligence that Leaves a Rehab Facility Liable for Overdose

These are just a few of the types of negligence in a drug treatment center that can leave owners and operators responsible for tragic overdose deaths:

• Negligent hiring, leaving underqualified staff members in charge of patients. A failure in background checks. Negligent supervision of staff. Understaffing.
• A failure to monitor patients properly. Lying about the number of bed checks made on an employee duty log.
• A failure to identify the symptoms of an overdose quickly enough.
• A failure to respond to an overdose correctly (e.g., contacting 911 immediately, administering NARCAN correctly).
• A failure to monitor overdose patients closely in the aftermath when they could experience seizures, breathing issues, and may need further doses.
• Security failures that led to fentanyl making its way into a facility.

These mistakes and carelessness all point to a negligent drug treatment center, but strong evidence will be needed if families want true justice.

A skilled attorney can help make legal demands for shift logs and Q-15 or Q-30 reports (these are documented checks every 15 or 30 minutes). Phone records and surveillance video should also be requested. This and other documentation all help families show that a loved one wasn’t responsible for a tragic overdose.

Does My Family Have to Go to Court to Earn Wrongful Death Support?

Not usually. Healthcare network owners generally want to avoid going before a judge and jury. It’s expensive for them, and having their actions aired out publicly can damage their business.

When you have strong evidence of negligence, facilities and their liability insurers will often settle with you and your family to avoid a trial.

However, if corporate owners refuse to accept fault and support your family, your lawyer will have a lawsuit ready to file. Having an experienced lawyer on your side always represents the threat of a trial, and that can force facilities back to the negotiating table to do the right thing.

Filing a Fentanyl Overdose Wrongful Death Claim

When a drug rehab facility can be proven to have contributed to a loved one’s death, a family has the right to file a wrongful death claim. This claim can seek support for the family, including money to pay leftover medical bills and funeral expenses, and to help those left behind avoid financial difficulties in the future.

California’s Code of Civil Procedure CCP 377.60. goes over which family members have the first right to file (usually on behalf of the entire family):

• A husband or wife, or registered domestic partner

• Children of the deceased (this includes adopted children)
• Parents of a minor who died of a fentanyl overdose at an adolescent rehabilitation facility

When an adult victim didn’t have a spouse or children, the parents or siblings may be able to file a claim if they were financially dependent on the victim.

Families don’t have to have a lawyer to file a wrongful death claim. But these claims are complex and should be high-value cases. That means lawyers for the drug rehab facility will fight even harder to avoid blame, perhaps even trying to shift blame to the helpless patient.

A lawyer can gather the evidence for a strong case, and then often work to earn families much more in support than they could earn by taking on the facility themselves.

See: Evidence Checklist: The Records That Win a Rehab Overdose Case

Contact Us if a California Rehab Facility Contributed to Your Loved One’s Death.

Families who can prove a rehab center’s negligence allowed a tragic fentanyl overdose can get financial help at a very difficult time. Support should come for funeral costs and leftover medical bills. Families should demand help in replacing any income the victim supported the family with. They should also receive support for the emotional trauma they’ll cope with now and in the future.

Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to all family members to go over how to build a strong case. There’s no obligation, but all families should know that there are no upfront costs to hire our lawyers. We don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement a drug rehab facility must provide.