Whether taken periodically to treat a specific illness or regularly to control a medical condition, prescription drugs can be crucial to your health and wellbeing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also takes measures to ensure of the safety of these drugs by requiring extensive testing of drug manufacturers before new drugs become available to consumers.
In some cases, however, drugs appear on the market with unintended side effects and unanticipated interactions with other drugs. With the assistance of a seasoned attorney, you may be able to recover compensation for injuries related to prescription drug usage.
If you or a loved one suffered harm from taking a prescription drug, a Will County dangerous drugs lawyer may be able to help. Drug manufacturers who fail to adequately test drugs, warn of potential dangers to consumers, or reveal negative test results may be liable for the injuries that their drugs cause consumers.
How Dangerous Drugs Become Available to Consumers
The FDA requires drug manufacturers to complete extensive clinical trials before they can release a new drug onto the market for consumer usage. These requirements, however, do not always adequately protect consumers. There have been many cases where, in an effort to boost profits, pharmaceutical companies have fast-tracked drugs for consumer availability by suppressing negative test results or improperly minimizing the known risks of a drug through various marketing techniques.
Drug companies may hold liability for consumer injuries when their drugs are defective or unreasonably dangerous in some way. They also have a duty to properly warn consumers of potential risks of taking certain medications. When this situation occurs, a Will County dangerous drugs lawyer may be able to assist injury victims in proving a breach of this duty.
Grounds for Dangerous Drug Injury Claims
Many consumers mistakenly believe that FDA approval means that a prescription drug is safe. In reality, it may take many years—and thousands of consumers using a prescription drug—before the full effects and potential for harm surface.
A number of situations can lead to defective or dangerous drug injury lawsuits, including:
- Drugs that are defective in their design or manufacturing
- Incomplete or flawed packaging and warning labels
- Insufficient warnings about potential side effects and drug interactions
- Improper or misleading drug marketing techniques
All these problems may serve as grounds for a dangerous drug injury claim, depending on the circumstances of the case. A Will County dangerous drugs lawyer may be able to evaluate injuries and harm caused by certain drugs and determine the viability of any potential legal claims.
Complexities of Dangerous Drugs Claims
Handling a dangerous drug claim can be complex, as it requires a clear understanding of required clinical trials and procedures for drug companies to obtain FDA approval, as well as how to interpret test results. Large pharmaceutical companies also have tremendous money and power, not to mention teams of attorneys with the sole job of minimize payment on any civil claims, even if they are perfectly legitimate. In this situation, it can be hard to know where to start.
Some drug claims result from an FDA recall of a dangerous drug, or from a drug company’s voluntary recall of a drug after the issuance of FDA reports. Either type of recall could constitute evidence in support of a dangerous drugs claim, although a recall is not a requirement for a valid drug injury claim.
Consult with a Will County Dangerous Drugs Attorney Today
When you take a prescription medication, you expect it to help you, not harm you. Unfortunately, injuries from prescription drugs are all too common in the U.S., particularly when pharmaceutical companies tend to value profits over safety. If you were injured by a dangerous drug, you may want to consult a Will County dangerous drugs lawyer for advice.
The results of taking a dangerous drug can be severe and even life-threatening in some situations, but drug manufacturers can and should be held liable for the dangerous drugs that they choose to release onto the market. If you suffered harm from taking a drug, call today to start exploring your legal options.
