The pharmaceutical world is a huge one, with remarkably high demand in many areas and companies that are notably ruthless about making their profits no matter what. This often leads to the rushed release of certain medications on the market, including those that are regularly prescribed to numerous patients, and this in turn can cause unsafe interactions, overdoses and even death or serious injury in some cases.
At the offices of William Rawlings & Associates, we’ve helped many clients receive their due compensation after complications from prescription medications. This falls under product liability, which is a significant part of the personal injury world. Let’s look at all the important factors here, including what qualifies for these kinds of cases and what you should do if this happens to you.
If you’ve been experiencing unexpected or uncomfortable side effects from a prescribed medication, chances are you’ve called your doctor already to ask about these. The most common response here is to just ride it out – some drugs are like this, with a little time needed while the body adjusts to the new medication.
The problem is, these side effects that may seem normal in some cases might not be in others. They might have severe results, such as severe medical complications or even death in some cases, but it might be too late to totally ward off these complications. If this is the case for you, and either you or a loved one has been affected or even killed as a result of prescription drug complications, know that you have legal recourse available.
With any product liability case, there are a few different types of defects that might lead to harm. These types are:
Design defect: A design defect refers to any drug with unsafe ingredients or an unsafe method of delivery for the target population. One prominent example that’s taken place on more than one occasion in the past is antidepressants designed to help with anxiety actually causing an increase in suicide rate among the population who takes them.
Manufacturing defect: In some other cases, the actual ingredients and delivery method of a drug are perfectly safe – but the manufacturing process itself has issues. Perhaps the production line where the drug is stamped is contaminated, or maybe the manufacturing plant received a batch of subpar ingredients.
Marketing defects: In still other cases, the design and manufacturing processes were just fine for a drug, but it’s marketed improperly in one of several ways. This could mean incorrect dosage or ingredient information on the bottle, or improper directions for taking the medication.
If you think any of the above defects have taken place for your medication, resulting in harm to you, speak to a personal injury attorney right away. We can help you determine whether there’s enough evidence to prove liability, plus advise you on the proper steps to take as you move forward.
To learn more about this or any of our other personal injury lawyer services, speak to the pros at the offices of William Rawlings & Associates today.