It seems impossible to place a dollar amount on the death of anyone, regardless of any age. However, monetary damages represent the only form of compensation our legal system can offer for a wrongful death. In some cases, we have found that the dollar value of damages in cases involving children and the elderly has fallen below levels we have seen in cases involving the death of an adult. This disparity, to the extent it exists, may reflect that the lost earnings of a deceased adult add to the damages recoverable in wrongful death cases, whereas children and the elderly rarely have earnings.
However, Pennsylvania law does permit the recovery of significant damages in all wrongful death lawsuits, so we encourage anyone mourning the loss of a loved one to speak with an experienced Philadelphia wrongful death attorney right away.