Approximately 1.3 million Americans visit the emergency room every year due to adverse drug side effects.
If your doctor prescribes you a new medication and you start to experience new, unexpected side effects that affect your quality of life, you may wonder, Can you sue for medication side effects?
In many cases, you may have a legal case to win compensation for the drug’s side effects.
Were You Given Adequate Warning?
In drug side effect suits, the pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing companies are the parties usually held responsible for damages.
However, if your medical provider failed to give you an adequate warning about the harmful side effects, you may have a claim against them.
Taking a drug your physician prescribes you places you at the mercy of their medical expertise. You don’t shoulder the burden of knowing every side effect or adverse scenario that could occur should you take the drug.
A physician failing to give you adequate warning creates an issue around informed consent.
Should you suffer an unexpected and unusual side effect not mentioned by your physician that causes severe harm, you may have a case against them.
Defective Drugs
In some cases, the drug you take contains defects in either its physical contents or its labeling and packaging. In this case, can you sue a pharmaceutical company?
Several defects exist that could lead to a lawsuit, including:
- Drug’s labeling doesn’t possess a strong enough warning against whatever damaging side effects you experienced;
- Drug was poorly designed, leading to injury even when you took it as suggested;
- Drug carries contaminated ingredients that harm you; or
- Drug possesses a much higher or lower dose than it should, resulting in harm.
Successfully pursuing a drugs defect case is very possible. The legal theory you will sue under is known as products liability.
Products liability allows you to hold anyone in the chain of manufacturing for the defective drug liable for your damages.
Additionally, products liability claims are decided under strict liability—meaning the party you are suing doesn’t actually have to be negligent to be held liable for the defective drug.
However, it can be a challenge to hold pharmaceutical companies liable for side effects is their considerable financial resources. These resources can make it difficult for an individual to effectively fund legal action against the companies.
A knowledgeable and experienced drug defects lawyer can help nullify the challenges you might face.
Standing up to large companies can be difficult, and having an attorney behind you makes it easier to navigate all these challenges.
How Do I Know If I Have a Good Case?
To have a good case for a defective drug or products liability lawsuit, you must prove three elements:
- The drug was defective or you were given improper warnings about its effects;
- You have suffered an actual harm; and
- The harm you suffered was directly and actually caused by the drug.
Under Alabama law, you have the burden of proof to establish each of these elements before you can recover compensation.
The more evidence you have of each of these elements, the more likely it is your case will be successful.
What Money Can I Win from a Lawsuit?
Compensation for drug side effects may take several forms, but most commonly it is monetary damages. The amount of money you win depends on several different factors but, primarily, how severe your injury was.
Some damages you might claim in a drugs defect lawsuit include:
- Compensation for lost wages,
- Payment for medical treatment,
- Pain and suffering damages, and
- Lost earning capacity damages.
Contact Fob James Law Firm Today
If you suffer harm due to unexpected drug side effects, do not hesitate to reach out to Fob James Law Firm, LLC.
We have served our clients for over 40 years and have helped them win back millions of dollars. We will hear your case, give you an evaluation, and work hard to get you the money you deserve.
Fob James
Fob James obtained a B.S., in software engineering from Auburn University and then continued his education by getting his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. After working for a large regional firm for several years where he obtained awards for both individual and corporate clients, Fob found that his passion was fighting for individuals who have been seriously injured or wronged by others. Fob believes that the jury is the great equalizer to the power and influence that large corporations have in society.