What is a survival action and how is it different from a wrongful death claim?

A survival action is a legal claim that allows a deceased person's estate to recover the damages the deceased person themselves could have pursued had they survived — essentially, the injured person's own personal injury claim "survives" their death and is carried on by the estate. It is distinct from, but often filed alongside, a wrongful death claim. The key difference lies in whose losses are being compensated. A wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family members for their losses — such as loss of financial support, companionship, and guidance. A survival action, by contrast, compensates the estate for the harm the deceased experienced between the time of injury and the time of death, including the conscious pain and suffering they endured, their medical expenses, lost wages during that period, and sometimes punitive damages where the defendant's conduct was egregious. The recovery from a survival action becomes part of the deceased's estate and is distributed according to their will or state intestacy laws, whereas wrongful death proceeds typically go directly to the qualifying surviving family members. Not all states recognize survival actions identically, and the availability of pre-death pain and suffering damages varies. When a death results from negligence, both claims are commonly pursued together to capture the full scope of compensable losses.