It is very common in the U.S. for prescription drugs to be subject to legal suits. There is always some risk of any prescription drug being potentially harmful. But sometimes it can be proven that with enough testing, harm caused by a drug could have been avoided.
This blog will provide a brief overview of what the law says about unsafe pharmaceutical drugs and liability.
Was the danger that the drug presented avoidable?
The term “unavoidably safe” is used to describe a product that will always present some risk or potential side effect, no matter what precautions are taken. However, the risk has been weighed up against the beneficial aspects that may work for patient. In this situation, as long as the manufacturer has made the risks clear with adequate warnings, they will probably not be able to be successfully fought against in a products liability lawsuit.
Did the manufacturer perform their duty to warn?
The manufacturer always has a duty to warn the potential consumer of the risks or dangers of taking a drug. All possible side effects must be listed. The drug manufacturer is an expert in their field by default, therefore any oversights or errors are ultimately their responsibility.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was created to protect children and provide some compensation to those who have been injured due to childhood immunizations.
There are many possibilities to recover compensation because of fault from product manufacturers on harmful prescription drugs.
Source: FindLaw, “Pharmaceutical drug liability,” accessed Aug. 4, 2017
