Prescription Drug Injuries

Prescription Drug Injuries

Prescription drugs play a pivotal role in helping cure or control illness. Although these drugs frequently enhance our well-being and health, they can at times cause more harm than good, leaving us worse off than before.

When an individual sustains a grave medical problem or injury or dies from taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs, what is required is for them or their survivors to file a drug injury lawsuit. The probable cause should be that the injury incurred was the result of a side effect of or serious reaction to the drug.

To meet eligibility for a case, the sustained injury must have been avoidable had a physician, pharmacist, or drug manufacturer made better. If you or a loved one is a victim of prescription drug injury, you’re entitled to take legal action against the drug’s distributor or manufacturer. Here’s what you should know about pursuing such a lawsuit.

Contact Us Now
[email protected]
212-300-7174
Schedule a Free Consultation!

Possible Sources of Prescription Drug Injuries

Generally, this type of injury arises from the following errors:

A Design Defect

Pharmaceutical companies assume the responsibility of developing reasonably safe medical products whose benefits outweigh the risks. Likewise, they should identify any possible side effects and provide patients with adequate warning.

Some prescription medications are inherently hazardous by design. However, if flaws were evident in the formulating process and ignored, resulting in hazardous side effects, then there is a design defect.

Warning Defects

Prescription drug companies have an obligation to warn doctors and patients concerning risks that they’re aware of or should know about. This comprises candid, accurate, and complete drug advertising and labeling.

When a manufacturer fails to warn users sufficiently on the potential risks associated with a drug, they become accountable for warning defects. If a drug lacks a warning label, or the instructions on a label are unclear, or the label is difficult to read, or the label belongs to a different drug, then a manufacturer can be deemed liable.

Manufacturing Defects

The manufacture of prescription medications should be in line with their individual designs. Any deviation could lead to mislabeling, contamination, or other issues that make the drug unsafe. Deviations during the manufacturing or assembly of a drug might produce a manufacturing defect. For instance, if a manufacturing plant permits drug contaminants, then a manufacturing defect will result.

What Legal Options Do I Have?

At Oliveira Law, our team has extensive experience when it comes to pursuing compensation for victims of prescription drug injuries. Our strategies involve the following options:

Individual Lawsuit

A lawsuit may be filed in a federal or a state court. In a pharmaceutical lawsuit, numerous people might have suffered comparable harm from the same or a similar product nationwide. The consolidation of your lawsuit could occur in the same federal or state court as other lawsuits. This is referred to as multidistrict or multicounty litigation.

Consolidation accelerates the pretrial process, involves lowers costs, and prevents the likelihood of inconsistent rulings.

Settlement Fund Claim

In some instances, a pharmaceutical firm might have agreed to pay claims to the surviving family members or affected patients through an established fund.

Class Action Litigation

In the event that countless people have suffered an injury from a pharmaceutical product, and it would be impractical to bring all proceedings to court, the best strategy would be pursuing class action litigation.

In this type of action, a plaintiff or two would represent the bigger group of plaintiffs. Similar to individual litigation, this litigation’s filing could take place in a federal or a state court.

Liable Parties in Drug Injury Cases

Apportioning liability can be a complex process due to various factors. Medical providers use various treatment techniques and every procedure involves a slight risk. The main consideration is whether the injury was avoidable. In most instances, the prescribing physicians, pharmacists, and drug manufacturers might together be liable for drug injuries.

The Damages You Can Pursue in a Drug Claim

After ingesting a defective drug, you might sustain a serious illness or injury, leaving you with expensive medical bills, stress, and lost wages. Fortunately, it’s possible to pursue compensation in a drug claim for damages suffered from the use of a dangerous drug. These are the losses you can claim compensation for:

• Non-Economic Losses
• Emotional and physical suffering, such as emotional distress
• Companionship loss or relationship changes with your spouse
• Economic Losses
• Medical costs, e.g., prescriptions, doctors, and rehabilitation bills
• Mobility and lifestyle expenses, for example, home renovation or hiring experts to manage the loss of mobility

Once a product liability attorney identifies the kind and amount of drug you used, and whether you discontinued using it immediately after exhibiting side effects, they can determine the losses you’re eligible for so you can obtain the deserved compensation.

Why You Need to Consult a Product Liability Attorney

To secure compensation in this claim, you should prove that you took a drug that was flawed and that you sustained an injury after taking it, and that you did not receive a proper warning regarding its dangers, and that all or any of these resulted in injuries.

Since it can be difficult to substantiate this, you must collaborate with a knowledgeable product liability attorney because they understand the laws surrounding it, as well as the resources needed to prove your claim and ensure you obtain the compensation you’re entitled to.

Contact us today for a consultation if you or a loved one is a victim of prescription drug injury and desire to seek compensation but don’t know where to start.