While many prescription drugs reduce pain, increase mobility, reduce inflammation, and improve our overall quality of life, there’s a darker side to pharmaceutical drugs. Taking an FDA-approved medication may lead to dangerous side effects, which can lead to permanent disability or disfigurement and in the worst cases, death.
If you live in Columbia, South Carolina and you sustained injuries after taking a pharmaceutical drug, you may have what’s called a “defective products claim.” Consumers can file defective products claims when dangerous products injure them; pharmaceutical-based product liability claims are not that different than other defective product claims.
Three Types of Drug-Related Claims
Defective drug claims basically fall into three categories:
- Defectively manufactured pharmaceutical drugs: These claims often involve drugs that were tainted for some reason. This can involve an error at the manufacturing facility, or a problem that occurred during bottling or shipping.
- Drugs with dangerous side effects: This involves drugs that were properly manufactured, but caused serious side effects, such as blood clots, a stroke, or a heart attack, etc.
- Drugs that were improperly marketed: If a drug is not marketing properly, it may not have proper warnings or instructions regarding its dangerous side effects. Often, a drug’s “bad advice” can be passed along by a medical doctor, the manufacturer, a pharmacist, or a sales rep.
Sometimes, a single defective drug case may involve more than one of the above claims. For example, a patient may file a claim based on a dangerous drug side effect but it may include a failure to warn of the particular side effect suffered.
So, who’s responsible in a dangerous drug claim? The potential defendants in this type of a case, include: the manufacturer, the testing laboratory, a pharmaceutical sales representative, a doctor, a hospital or clinic, or even a pharmacy.
If you were harmed by a dangerous and defective pharmaceutical drug, contact the Law Office of James R. Snell, Jr., LLC for a free consultation!