Immunity from Wrongful Death Liability: How Mickels Fails to Compensate Note 82 Missouri Law Review 2017

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82 Mo. L. Rev. 843 (2017)
Immunity from Wrongful Death Liability: How Mickels Fails to Compensate

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NOTE

Immunity from Wrongful Death Liability:

How Mickels Fails to Compensate

Mickels v. Danrad, 486 S.W.3d 327 (Mo. 2016) (en banc)

Kevin Buchanan*

I. INTRODUCTION

Wrongful death statutes originated out of a need to compensate the family
of a decedent whose life was wrongfully taken.' Closely related to wrongful
death statutes are survivorship statutes, which allow for the transmission of tort
claims after the death of one or more of the parties.2 These statutes help address
the once common maxim that it's cheaper to kill a man than to maim him.3
Today, all fifty states have both wrongful death and survivorship statutes.4
In Mickels v. Danrad, the Supreme Court of Missouri declined to allow
wrongful death claims where a defendant's negligence accelerates the death of
a terminally ill decedent.5 However, the court determined that a decedent's
family may have a survivorship claim for personal injuries not resulting in
death.6 In doing so, the court perpetuated a trend that fails to accomplish the
intended goal of wrongful death statutes: to compensate a decedent's family.7
Part II of this Note looks at the facts and holding of Mickels. Part In
examines the wrongful death and survivorship claims as well as the past prec-
edent of such claims in the context of medical malpractice and improper diag-
noses. Part IV then introduces the wrongful death and survivorship issues pre-
sented in Mickels. Finally, Part V distinguishes Mickels from precedent and
argues in favor of the dissent.

* B.A., New York University, 2015; J.D. Candidate, University of Missouri School of
Law, 2018; Note and Comment Editor, Missouri Law Review, 2017-2018. I would like
to extend a special thank you to Professor Philip G. Peters and the entire Missouri Law
Review staff for their support and guidance in writing this Note.
1. Wex S. Malone, The Genesis of Wrongful Death, 17 STAN. L. REv. 1043, 1044
(1965).
2. Id.
3. W. PAGE KEETON ET AL., PROSSER AND KEETON ON THE LAW OF TORTS § 127
(5th ed. 1984).
4. Jonathan James, Comment, Denial of Recovery to Nonresident Beneficiaries
Under Washington's Wrongful Death and Survival Statutes: Is It Really Cheaper to
Kill a Man Than to Maim Him, 29 SEATTLE U. L. REv. 663, 666 (2006).
5. Mickels v. Danrad, 486 S.W.3d 327, 331 (Mo. 2016) (en banc).
6. Id.
7. Id. at 332 (Teitelman, J., dissenting).