Otani v. Broudy

The issue in this appeal is whether loss of enjoyment of life is recoverable by a decedent’s estate in a survival action as an item of damage compensating for the decedent’s shortened life expectancy. We conclude it is not and reverse an award of $450,000 to the estate of a decedent who died shortly after surgery without conscious pain or awareness that she had been fatally injured. Had the decedent lived, she would have had no claim for loss of *547life; therefore, no such claim survived to her personal representative.

The facts are uncontested. While performing surgery upon Yaeko Otani to…