If your loved one died at a California rehab facility, you may have a wrongful death claim.
Most families who come to us don’t arrive with evidence. They arrive with questions. They were told their child or loved one died of an overdose, then they were handed a death certificate. Nobody explained what the staff was doing that night, whether anyone checked on their loved one, or why Narcan wasn’t administered in time.
What Makes a Wrongful Death Case Against a California Rehab Facility?
A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit filed by the family of someone who died because of another party’s negligence.
For a valid wrongful death claim under California State law, four elements need to be present:
1. The facility owed your loved one a duty of care.
The California drug treatment or rehabilitation facility has a legal duty to protect the patients in their care. This duty is established the moment someone is admitted. It doesn’t matter whether your loved one signed a waiver, facilities cannot waive away their own negligence under California law.
2. The facility breached their duty.
A breach means the facility failed to do what a reasonably careful facility would have done. Common breaches in rehab overdose cases include but aren’t limited to:
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Failing to conduct required supervision checks
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Inadequate staffing
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No Narcan available or no staff trained to administer it
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Failure to search for contraband on admission or during the stay
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Falsified or incomplete observation logs
3. The breach caused the death.
The facility’s failure has to be connected to what happened. For example, in fentanyl overdose cases, this connection is often straightforward – a patient who was checked on regularly, or whose distress was caught early, wouldn’t have had access to drugs or would have survived with prompt Narcan administration. The question is not whether fentanyl or drugs were present. The question is whether the facility’s failure to supervise turned a survivable situation into a fatal one.
4. Your family suffered damages.
California wrongful death law allows families to recover for funeral and burial costs, loss of financial support, and the loss of love, companionship, comfort, and guidance your loved one would have provided. These are real, compensable losses.
Ask Yourself:
You don’t need a yes to every one of these. But if several are true, you likely have a case worth evaluating.
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Did the facility market itself as providing 24/7 supervision or around-the-clock care?
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Was your loved one found unresponsive??
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Were you given vague or inconsistent explanations about what happened?
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Has the facility been slow to provide records??
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Was Narcan not administered or administered late?
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Did the facility have prior complaints, violations, or a history with California DHCS?
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Did your loved one die within hours of admission or during overnight hours when staffing is typically lowest?
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Was the cause of death fentanyl? Was your loved one in the facility long enough to have reduced tolerance?
What Might Work Against Your Case, and Why it Often Doesn’t Matter:
“We signed a liability waiver.”
California courts do not allow facilities to use waivers to escape liability for their own negligence. A waiver may limit certain claims but it does not eliminate a wrongful death case.
“They might have brought the drugs in themselves.”
This is one of the most common defenses facilities raise. Under California’s comparative fault rules, even if your loved one contributed to what happened, the facility can still be held liable for their share of responsibility.
“The facility is already closed.”
A closed facility does not mean the case is gone. Claims can often be pursued against the owners, operators, and insurers of a facility that has shut down.
“It happened more than a year ago.”
California’s standard statute of limitations deadline is two years from the date of death. If time has passed, contact us asap, don’t assume you’ve missed your window without speaking to an attorney first.
What Happens Next:
Martin Gasparian offers free case reviews to families who lost a loved one at a California rehab facility. Fill out a free case review form today or call us.