When we take medications, we expect that the product we picked up off the shelf or were prescribed by a doctor will improve our health condition. While we hear about side effects, we do not expect that taking a drug may result in additional health complications, including some that are extremely serious or even life-threatening.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there are more than four million adverse drug reactions that occur annually, resulting in more than 100,000 hospitalizations each year. Studies have found that around 50 percent of these adverse drug events were completely preventable.
These adverse drug reactions can occur for a variety of reasons, including when doctors prescribe the wrong medications; pharmacies, hospital staff, or nursing homes administering the wrong dosage; inherent problems with a dangerous and inadequately tested drug; or certain batches being contaminated or mislabeled.
Most troubling is when pharmaceutical companies, which are billion dollar companies often primarily concerned with the bottom line, release dangerous or improperly tested drugs that can lead to serious side effects, much worse than the problems they are intended to treat. Some of these side effects can include psychological problems, birth defects, strokes, heart problems or heart attacks, liver failure, kidney failure, or even death.
Some examples of dangerous drugs include diet medication like Fen-Phen, birth control medication like Yaz or Ocella, dialysis medication like NaturaLyte or Granuflo, or type II diabetes medicine like Actos or Invokana.
In many cases, the dangerous side effects of these drugs don’t arise until months or even years after their usage becomes widespread. And all too often, even as evidence begins to emerge of widespread complications, drug manufacturers are still slow to recall these drugs since it affects their bottom line.
If a pharmaceutical company has released a dangerous or deadly drug on the marketplace, it is important that they are held accountable for the pain and suffering of those they have harmed, and so that more people are not subject to the dangers of the drug.
There are a variety of legal claims that you can make if you’ve been affected by a harmful drug, including:
– Strict Liability: These rules state that drug manufacturers are always liable for any unexpected drug reactions among patients taking the medication as directed and prescribed. In these cases, you don’t need to prove that the drug manufacturer was negligent, but that the drug released as is was dangerous.
– Negligence: These claims are made if a drug manufacturer was unreasonably careless when producing the drug and that this negligence caused your injury, illness, or complications.
– Failure to Warn: If a drug manufacturer does not warn you about the potential risks of a drug or leaves off important information about potential complications, then you may take legal action due to their failure to warm.
It’s important to note that pharmaceutical companies aren’t the only ones that may be at fault if you’ve suffered complications from a drug. It could also be caused by medical malpractice such as when a doctor did not adequately review the patient’s medical history, an error caused by the pharmacy in administering the proper doses, among other situations.
Medical malpractice claims regarding dangerous drugs can be complex, that is why you need an experienced and knowledgeable attorney in order to explore the legal options and to build a provable case. The attorneys at Fears Nachawati are ready to fight on your behalf and make a compelling case for you in court if you’ve been harmed by medical malpractice or dangerous drugs.
Contact the offices of Fears Nachawati today to schedule your free, no-obligation legal consultation to see what we can do for you. Give us a call at (866) 705-7584, or visit our Dallas office on Greenville Avenue. Offices are also available in Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.