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Every day, people use over-the-counter and prescription medications to manage their pain or to cure their illnesses, and they expect those medications to be safe. Unfortunately, sometimes they can produce severe side effects. If taking a medication caused serious injuries to you or someone in your family, you may be entitled to receive compensation. An experienced personal injury attorney could help you seek compensation for all of your damages such as past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish, and lost wages. Reach out to a Hazel Crest dangerous drugs lawyer as soon as possible for an initial consultation to let them review the details of your situation and see if they might be able to help.
In dangerous drugs cases, sometimes the medication itself has inherent defects, while at other times doctors prescribe the wrong medication or the wrong dosage of the right medication. To prevail in a lawsuit, a claimant would need to establish that there were defects in the design, production, marketing, prescribing, or filling of the medication.
Pharmaceutical companies have a duty to ensure that their drugs are inherently safe. They must design them to have minimal side effects and so they do not negatively interact with other medications.
Drug companies also have a duty to ensure that their drugs are produced safely. They need to abide by the safety regulations set forth by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the manufacturing and production.
Pharmaceutical companies need to warn consumers about all of a medication’s potential adverse side effects and inform consumers about possible negative interactions that a drug could have with other drugs. Most drugs contain warnings of potential harms and consequences on their packaging. If a person becomes ill after taking an over-the-counter pain reliever that did not have proper warnings on its label, that person could sue the pharmaceutical company for negligence due to faulty marketing of the drug.
In cases where the drug was made and advertised properly, liability may fall onto the prescribing doctor or the pharmacist. A claimant could file suit against one of them if they were reckless or mistaken in their prescription.
Doctors need to prescribe the right medication in the right dosage to their patients. To do this, they need to know if their patient has any drug allergies or if they are taking other medications that could negatively interact with the new drugs. If a person suffers a heart attack after taking a doctor-prescribed medication that negatively interacted with their existing high blood pressure medication, that person could pursue a claim for medical malpractice against the doctor who prescribed the new drug.
Pharmacists must fulfill medication prescriptions correctly. If a pharmacist mistakenly gives a customer the wrong medication, and that customer becomes ill, they could sue the pharmacist for negligence.
To be successful in a dangerous drugs case, a claimant would need to establish that someone else is responsible for the injuries that they sustained from taking the harmful medication. A skilled Hazel Crest personal injury lawyer could carefully scrutinize the relevant medical records of the injured claimant and the manufacturing records of the drug company to look into all probable sources of compensation. If the claimant decides to pursue a case against a large pharmaceutical company, their experienced local attorney could help decide whether to sue the pharmaceutical company as an individual or to join in a class-action lawsuit with others who have sustained similar injuries.
Defective drug cases often involve complicated medical and legal issues. It is essential to work with a law firm that has the necessary experience. Reach out to a dedicated Hazel Crest dangerous drugs lawyer who could aggressively fight to get you the compensation you need for your injuries.