Surveillance footage can serve as powerful evidence after a loved one is allowed to die in a California drug rehab facility.
The facility’s negligence can be highlighted by footage of drugs entering the facility. Footage can show how long a patient waited to be checked on.
This footage isn’t kept forever, and families may have trouble forcing a facility to preserve the evidence and turn it over for a lawsuit.
When Is Drug Rehab Facility Surveillance Footage Erased?
Footage from video cameras inside a drug treatment facility may be erased or overwritten within a week. Other facilities may keep their footage between a month and three months.
There’s no law mandating how long the healthcare network must keep its footage under normal circumstances. The length of time would often depend on the security monitoring company the facility contracted with, the amount of memory the facility paid for, and the drug clinic’s own policy.
Families should find the section of their contract they signed with the rehab that explains how the rehab business handles its footage.
How to Request Surveillance Footage
If you are considering a lawsuit against a drug rehab facility after a loved one was hurt or allowed to die, it’s important to act without delay.
If your family is handling a potential claim themselves, you’ll quickly want to write a “preservation of evidence request letter.” This letter asks the facility to preserve the evidence and turn it over.
Here are a few tips on writing this letter:
- Identify the date, time period, and location of the footage you are looking for.
- Demand the original files with time stamps. Edited clips are less helpful to your potential case.
- Send a copy of this letter to the facility administrator, the owners of the facility, and the facility’s insurer.
You can use the USPS tracking tool to show delivery. You can also send it by certified mail or registered mail to receive a return receipt with a signature.
When to Trust Video Surveillance Retrieval to a Lawyer
Drug rehab centers are often owned and run by companies or corporations. These businesses will have corporate lawyers on hand and ready. Their job will be to block your family from getting any video evidence that points to negligence on the part of the facility.
An experienced California rehab facility wrongful death lawyer can provide a great advantage when taking on these giant businesses. You’ll also want to contact a lawyer if a facility tells you that they’ve already deleted the relevant footage. Let a skilled attorney handle it.
- A lawyer can make sure a preservation-of-evidence (also known as a spoliation letter) is sent quickly and uses the right legal terminology so facilities can’t find loopholes.
- A lawyer can also issue a subpoena through the California court system to force the company to turn over the video.
When companies destroy video footage while knowing it could be part of a civil or criminal litigation, the court can hit owners with a separate criminal misdemeanor. The action can also increase the chances the company would be found liable for a tragic overdose death in a rehab facility.
Your family’s lawyer would be quick to point out any uncooperative behavior on the part of a health care network, or illegal behavior.
Contact Us if your Loved One Was Allowed to Overdose in a Drug Rehab
Families who prove a rehab center’s negligence in a loved one’s overdose death can demand full support.
A California drug treatment center can be held liable for a family’s funeral costs and remaining medical bills. The income a loved one may have supported the family with must be replaced. The family’s emotional distress now and in the future should also be supported.
Attorney Martin Gasparian offers a free, confidential consultation to families who lost a loved one at a California drug rehab facility.
There’s no obligation, but all families should know that there are no upfront costs to hire a skilled lawyer. We don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement a drug rehab facility must provide.