As a patient taking prescription medication, you can hire a drug injury lawyer, not for a headache or nausea, but debilitating drug injuries and life-threatening conditions. You have grounds for a lawsuit against the manufacturer if you can provide proof that the medication you took was in any way dangerous or defectively designed.
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Serious drug side effects may entitle you to financial compensation. Here’s where we unpack what you need to know about bad drug claims and lawsuits. More than 1.5 million people wind up in the hospital every year because of “adverse drug reactions,” meaning side effects from medications.
If you sue the manufacturer, you’ll have to prove you weren’t warned of the side effect you suffered. If your medical provider or the manufacturer told you about a possible side effect, and you decided to take the medication anyway, you won’t be able to blame the drug company.
If drug makers are hit with too many lawsuits, they won’t continue to make needed vaccines. “ [The fund] was created in the 1980s, after lawsuits against vaccine companies and health care providers threatened to cause vaccine shortages and reduce U.S. vaccination rates, which could have caused a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.”
If you're suffering any ill effects after taking a prescribed medication, the first thing you need to do is talk to your doctor, especially if what you're experiencing is beyond mild, anticipated side effects.
While some side effects are relatively minor and go away on their own, others can have a severely negative effect on your health for a long time. When this happens, victims may be able to file a lawsuit to obtain compensation for damages they experience due to these side effects.
A drug manufacturer has a duty to warn of side effects of a drug when such effects are understood to occur, but is not expected to warn of unknown dangers. Often the manufacturer discharges this duty by providing the necessary information to the patient's prescribing physician or to the pharmacist.
Can You Sue Even If the Drug That Harmed You Was Not Recalled? Yes. In some cases, drugs that have not been recalled still cause injuries or harm over and above a reasonable level of risk. Bad drug claims are very complex and are often pursued in the form of large class-action suits.
Can You Sue Drug Companies and Get Compensation? To successfully sue a drug company and get compensation, you and your attorney will first need to show that you were actually injured. Then you'll need to prove that it was their drug that injured you.
If you've had side-effect injuries after taking an FDA-approved drug for off-label use, you may be able to sue. Whether you can sue depends on the specifics of your unique case. But if it's a case where a drug maker illegally promoted their product for off-label use and you were hurt, the manufacturer may be liable.
Manufacturing defects are the most common cause of product liability claims. A lawsuit based on a manufacturing defect alleges that the original design of the product is completely safe, but that something happened during the manufacturing process to make the product unsafe.
Or, to put it another way, if a drug maker complies with FDA marketing and labeling restrictions, can an injured patient also sue the company for not making the product safe enough? In a closely watched case, the Supreme Court in early March said definitively “yes;” a company can be sued even after FDA approval.
Call your doctor. If you have taken a drug that has been recalled and have any unusual symptoms that you suspect may be linked to the medicine, call your doctor immediately.
Losartan Class Action Lawsuit Seeks Compensation for Buyers of Recalled Drugs. The makers of numerous batches of recalled generic losartan face a class action lawsuit, which says that contaminated versions of the hypertension drug sold in recent years were worthless, due to the presence of cancer-causing impurities.
In the context of Federal Pre-Emption, generic drug manufacturers cannot be sued for defective design of their product, nor can they be sued for failing to provide adequate warnings of risks that are associated with the drug. Generic drug makers therefore enjoy immunity from lawsuits.
When most drugs cause harm, the pharmaceutical companies that make them can be sued in product liability lawsuits.
TYLENOL LAWSUIT STATUS: Product liability lawyers are pursuing potential Tylenol lawsuits for individuals throughout the United States who have been diagnosed with liver problems due to side effects of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in the pain medication.
Patients should be able to expect that the medicines they take are safe for use and that there are no defects in the design of the drugs or defects that occur during the phase of manufacture that could cause unnecessary harm.
A dangerous drug is a medication that contains a defect and has the potential to cause injury.
Side effects are likely to occur with any medication within a certain number of people.
If you suffered injuries due to a dangerous drug you may be able to recover compensation for your losses in two categories:
Product liability claims can arise under three different legal theories:
When a consumer sustains injuries after using a defective medication, that consumer deserves to seek financial compensation.
The reactions you or a loved one are experiencing can determine whether or not you have a lawsuit worth attempting. These side effects range from internal and external physical pain to psychological effects and can affect anyone.
There are two different varieties of drug lawsuits: medical malpractice lawsuits and dangerous product lawsuits, each with unique causes and at-fault parties.
Chances are if you have experienced extreme side effects from any given medication, other people have also seen its negative consequences. Here is a list of medications that have already been put under the microscope because of previous lawsuits:
Your injuries that resulted from a medication that was given to you by a trusted healthcare worker can result in costly expenses, physical pain, and emotional suffering. Our law firm has provided many clients with financial resolve with their harmful drug lawsuits.
Severe injuries from dangerous drugs can include, but certainly aren’t limited to: Anticholinergic Effects: Anticholinergic drugs are used to treat many types of diseases, including breathing disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, and overactive bladder. Side effects can include hallucinations, ...
New drugs are approved only after the FDA has reviewed the result of all testing made by the manufacturer, and determined the manufacturer is capable of meeting FDA quality standards. The FDA does not approve compounded drugs, meaning ingredients mixed by a doctor or pharmacist to meet the needs of individual patients.
Bayer paid more than $8 million to settle a multi-state drug lawsuit over the cholesterol-reducing medication Baycol, alleging a failure to warn users against an increased risk of severe nerve and muscle disorders.
For example, Merck pharmaceutical company paid $4.85 billion to settle 47,000 lawsuits filed by groups of people who alleged the pain-relieving drug Vioxx caused heart attacks and strokes. Kidney Failure: Some patients can suffer serious kidney damage, including renal failure from their medications.
A class action lawsuit is when a group of people injured by the same drug file a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer. The group of “similarly situated” victims are the class. The class is represented by one or more law firms.
Anyone who believes they, or a family member, were injured from taking a covered vaccine may file a petition for compensation. Filing a petition is a legal action. Most individuals hire a personal injury attorney to handle their claim.
When You Can Sue a Drug Manufacturer. If you’ve suffered a serious illness or injury from taking a dangerous drug, whether prescription or over-the-counter, your first instinct may be to blame the company that manufactured the drug. Every type of medication has potential side effects.
When we discuss a medicine’s side effects, doctors, pharmacists, and the competent agencies refer to those mild adverse reactions that some people might experience, and some might not.
In the practice of law, a patient or a group of patients have grounds for a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company, a seller, doctors, hospitals, etc., in the following situations:
As a patient taking prescription medication, you can hire a drug injury lawyer, not for a headache or nausea, but debilitating drug injuries and life-threatening conditions. You have grounds for a lawsuit against the manufacturer if you can provide proof that the medication you took was in any way dangerous or defectively designed.
If a patient or the family of a deceased patient can prove that a drug was defective, dishonestly marketed, or came with undisclosed/poorly disclosed adverse reactions that caused harm, you might receive compensation for non-economic and economic damages. In some unusual cases, juries also awarded punitive damages.
Drug manufacturers have a duty to make sure that medications they sell are not unreasonably dangerous and contain sufficient warnings about dangerous side effects so that physicians and patients can evaluate the risks and benefits before taking the medication.
The drug injury lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. previously reviewed and investigated potential claims for users of the following medications. New cases are no longer being accepted for users of these medications at this time, but the following pages are available for informational purposes.
March 7, 2017 by Hossley Embry. It is the responsibility of pharmaceutical drug development companies and manufacturers in the U.S. to develop and sell safe, effective medications. The United States government and its regulatory bodies, especially the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are responsible for making sure ...
A side effect is a problem, usually negative, that manifests as a direct result of taking a prescribed medication. Side effects can happen to anyone taking a medication. Some are easy to deal with while others can be dangerous, life-altering, or deadly. For example, if someone takes an anti-histamine for a runny nose, ...
Heart issues: Medications are commonly recalled after release to the consumer market if it’s discovered that they cause cardiovascular problems, including but not limited to: heart attack, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, blood clots, and other issues.
Some examples of side effects that have led to lawsuits in the past include: Physical ailments: Physical pain as a result of prescription medication can interfere with daily life and make typical tasks seem impossible. Some examples of debilitating physical ailments include pain in the abdomen or joints, arthritis, and muscle spasms, among others.
The Safra Center also reports that prescription drugs cause a total of approximately 2.7 million adverse reactions annually.
It would be nearly impossible to list every single prescription drug and side effect that could result in a valid claim. In general, though, side effects that cause harm and that are not described in the patient instructions, documentation, and packaging that comes with the drug — or that are worse than described — could lead to liability on ...
FDA regulators are human, however, and drug companies aren’t always forthright about the known side effects of their drugs . These companies have a vested interest in getting their drugs approved for distribution to the public, and there have been numerous historical cases of companies who tried to cover up negative side effects associated ...
If you're suffering any ill effects after taking a prescribed medication, the first thing you need to do is talk to your doctor, especially if what you're experiencing is beyond mild, anticipated side effects.
Some of the more serious examples of side effects include organ damage, depression, suicidal thoughts and even death.
When doctors prescribe medications, they have a legal duty to assess: 1 the relative benefits and risks of the medication in light of the patient's overall health 2 the relationship of the prescription to other medications being taken by the patient, and 3 the medication's known side effects.
the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warning of known risks and side effects. This type of claim is typically brought against the pharmaceutical company that designed, manufactured and sold the medication, and a lawsuit like this also usually requires expert testimony to establish liability and causation.
And finally, when prescribed medications are administered by way of an injection in a doctor's office or hospital setting, the nurses and other care providers must administer the correct medication in the proper dosage and with the medically accepted protocol.
the medication's known side effects. When pharmacists dispens e prescribed medications, they must correctly read the doctor 's prescription and fill it with the correct medication in the properly-prescribed dosage. And finally, when prescribed medications are administered by way of an injection in a doctor's office or hospital setting, ...
The failure of a doctor, pharma cist or nurse to comply with any of the above-mentioned duties may provide the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit if certain elements can be proven.