Dangerous defective Drugs are all too common. Not a week goes by without a warning or recall being issued by a company or the FDA regarding a pharmaceutical drug. While some drugs work well for many patients, others are dangerous drugs that have numerous side effects and can inflict personal injury on the patients and users.

Drug side effects are life changing and even life threatening, and often the companies who make the dangerous drugs know the risks involved. Some have proven to be complicit in actually covering up drug side effects in order to gain government approval. Many dangerous drugs result in class action lawsuits and consumers must find injury lawyers to make a claim against the companies that manufacture them and those lawsuits can reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Prescription Drug Injury and Side Effects FAQ

Every year, thousands of people suffer serious side effects and injuries from taking prescription drugs. Drug manufacturers have the duty to provide adequate warnings about potential side effects and to promote safe usage for intended purposes, while physicians are required to exercise care when prescribing a drug to a patient. Negligence on the part of either of these parties can result in harm to the patient. Those who have suffered an injury or illness due to a dangerous prescription drug can seek compensation for their damages with help from a qualifying product liability attorney.

Q: What makes a prescription drug dangerous?

A: A prescription drug can be dangerous in one of two ways: either the user has a bad reaction to it and suffers serious side effects, or s/he uses it for off-brand purposes without knowledge of possible ill effects. If a drug causes dangerous side effects in a substantial amount of patients, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may either issue a warning to alert the public of the dangers posed by the drug, or pull it from the shelves altogether.

Q: I know of some dangerous drugs that are still on the market. What gives?

A: There a number of reasons why some dangerous drugs are still sold on the market even though they pose clear risks to users. The FDA may not consider the potentially dangerous side effects of the drug to be serious or frequent enough. Or the manufacturer may skew or manipulate their product screening results to make the drug appear less dangerous than it really is.

Q: What are some injuries commonly associated with popular prescription drugs?

A: Many popular prescription drugs have been linked to a wide array of injuries and diseases, including:

  • Cancer – Numerous prescription drugs, including the diabetes drug Actos and the birth control injection Depo-Provera, can increase the risk of developing certain types of cancer.
  • Cardiovascular Injuries – Severe cardiovascular complications – blood clots, heart attacks, strokes, etc. – can result from the usage of low testosterone therapies and birth control medications.
  • Depression and suicidal thoughts – Several popular antidepressant drugs, such as Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft, as well as the acne medication Accutane may cause patients to experience severe depression and suicidal thoughts.
  • Diabetes – While the cholesterol drug Lipitor can reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications, it can also alter some patients’ blood glucose levels, contributing to the development of Type 2 diabetes.

Q: What are some harmful side effects of prescription drugs?

A: Some commonly prescribed drugs with harmful side effects include:

  • Antibiotics – Weakened bones, heart issues, and birth defects in some pregnant users
  • Antidepressants – Persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) and other serious birth defects
  • Antismoking Drugs – Pulmonary valve stenosis, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and other heart conditions in newborns
  • Birth Control – Breast cancer, blood clots, and other serious health complications resulting from long time usage
  • Diabetes Drugs – Severe organ damage, including renal failure, bladder and pancreatic cancer, and pancreatitis
  • Migraine Drugs – Birth defects including cleft lip and cleft palate, spina bifida, and autism
  • Painkillers – Growing dependency and even addiction in patients from frequent usage

Q: How can I avoid being harmed by a prescription drug?

A: When prescribed a new medication, speak with your physician about all of the dangers and potential side effects posed by the drug. If you are at an increased risk of facing complications due to a certain condition, do not take the drug and seek out safer alternatives. Also avoid off-brand usage of any prescription drug, even if it is promoted by the manufacturer.

If you have been taking a prescription drug for a long time and only recently found out about its dangerous effects, DO NOT suddenly stop taking the drug, unless your physician tells you to do so. Otherwise, you may experience dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

Q: Who can I sue for my prescription drug injury?

A: If you suffered an injury or illness from a drug because it was defectively designed or manufactured, or you were not aware of its harmful side effects due to insufficient labels and warnings, then you may have a viable product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer, wholesaler, and/or distributor. You may have a case against the pharmacist or physician as well if s/he did not prescribe you the proper medication or failed to educate you on its effects.

Q: What damages can I recover in a dangerous drug claim?

A: Depending on the strength of your claim and the extent of the damages you have suffered, you may receive compensation for:

  • Past and future medical expenses
  • Past and future lost earnings
  • Permanent disability
  • Physical therapy costs
  • Prescription costs
  • Mental anguish
  • Pain and suffering

Overprescribing of Painkillers Is a National Problem

For people with intense pain, day-in and day-out debilitating pain, sometimes painkillers are the only way to survive.

At the same time, pain pills are causing others to overdose or take their own lives when they become hopelessly addicted. Often, doctors are to blame when they neglect to monitor their patients or increase the dosage unnecessarily.

Painkillers are not a drug that should be handed out casually. Yet, overprescribing is largely responsible for this widespread addiction, according to NPR, and improving the way these drugs are prescribed may begin to turn the trend around.

Good People, Dangerous Addictions

Enough prescription painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month, according to the CDC.

They might not carry the same stigma has cocaine or heroin, but painkillers are narcotics that can lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Some patients who were originally prescribed medication to manage their pain eventually needed larger and larger doses in order to function, leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to start noticing patterns of widespread abuse. In what the CDC calls an “epidemic,” prescription pain pill overdoses kill more than 15,000 Americans annually.

What do you see when you picture a drug addict? A strung out, twenty-something in a dark room might be a common visual. That, however, is a misperception when it comes to painkiller addicts. The victims can be as young as 12, or as old as your grandma. They’re people who went to the doctor because pain was taking over their life. Whether the pain was from a genetic condition or traumatic accident, these people needed something to make each day bearable. What starts out as innocent pain management, though, can become a deadly craving.

Doctor’s May Play More of a Role in This Dependency Than Many People Realize

Vicodin and other medications containing hydrocodone are some of the most commonly prescribed painkillers. Vicodin is a Schedule III controlled substance, which means doctors can authorize up to five refills on one 30-day prescription, according to USA Today. That’s a six-month supply before patients must revisit a doctor. The DEA is pushing the FDA to reclassify Vicodin as a Schedule II drug, the most restrictive category for substances with accepted medical uses, so that doctors could no longer prescribe refills of a 30-day supply or phone a prescription in to a pharmacy. Regardless of the outcome of the debate, doctors should still be following guidelines for responsible painkiller prescribing. The CDC notes the following:

  • Screening and monitoring for substance abuse and mental health problems.
  • Prescribing painkillers only when other treatments have not been effective for pain.
  • Prescribing only the quantity of painkillers needed based on the expected length of pain.
  • Using patient-provider agreements combined with urine drug tests for people using prescription painkillers long term.
  • Talking with patients about safely using, storing, and disposing of prescription painkillers.
  • Using Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) to better help patients manage their prescriptions.

When doctors fail to adhere to these standards, patients can die on their watch and they may be held legally accountable for negligence. Beyond a doctor overprescribing a patient with actual pain, the CDC reports that many states have problems with “pill mills” where doctors prescribe large amounts of painkillers to people who don’t medically need them.

This means the amount of painkillers patients are receiving may far outweigh their need for them, feeding an addiction unnecessarily. It also means that addiction warning signs may be missed by healthcare professionals until it’s too late.

While a balance must be struck so that people who are in severe pain can still access the drugs, something must be done to prevent patients from dying from addiction and overdoses. While families of those who have been lost to painkiller addiction can file wrongful death claims to recover for their loss, the claim does not bring the loved one back or prevent it from happening to someone else.

Working with Dangerous Drug Lawyers

Find a Pharmaceutical Drug Lawyer, Attorney or Law Firm to help with your dangerous drug case. Defective drug lawyers usually specialize in pharmaceutical litigation and nothing else, which gives them exceptional experience with defective drug legal procedures, case history and anything else related to dangerous drugs that a pharmaceutical attorney should be know. A pharmaceutical drug attorney lawyer will take your case if you qualify on contingency. They will help you to focus on your drug lawsuit issues and take care of your health knowing you will get through the process.