Dangerous drugs pose a hazard to peoples’ individual health as well as to society as a whole. However, dangerous drugs are not just illegal substances such as heroin or cocaine. Prescription medications and even over-the-counter drugs can have just as devastating an impact on a person’s well-being. In fact, drug makers have a moral and legal obligation to ensure that their drugs are safe when customers take them as intended and to disclose all known side effects. Sadly, in the name of profit, many pharmaceutical companies fail to properly test their substances or intentionally hide potential dangers—resulting in defective drug injuries.
A Wesley Chapel dangerous and defective drugs lawyer at Distasio Law Firm may be able to help if you believe that a drug maker’s error or deception is the cause of your injuries or complications. Our dedicated personal injury attorneys can work with you to explain the relevant laws, discover evidence of any wrongdoing, and pursue your claim for fair compensation.
The Potentially Harmful Effects of Taking Dangerous Drugs
Any failure on the part of a pharmaceutical company to disclose information about drug interactions may result in an individual suffering traumatic side effects from medications. For example, a patient who takes a medication for high blood pressure requires a specific dosage for that use. If the maker mislabels a drug as containing a lower concentration of an active ingredient than is present on the bottle, the patient may suffer from internal bleeding. A skilled Wesley Chapel dangerous drugs attorney could work with individuals to evaluate their injuries and complications from medications and begin the process of connecting those damages to harmful drugs.
The Legal Basis for a Claim Demanding Compensation
Every maker of products has an obligation to make products that are safe when a customer uses them properly. A failure to meet this obligation forms the core of claims called product liability cases. Dangerous drug claims are a subset of this area of law.
Florida’s laws contain a statute that outlines the ways that an injured consumer can sue for damages alleging an unsafe medication. The maker of a defective product is liable for any resulting injuries if a plaintiff is able to prove one of three things:
- That the final product deviated from the maker’s stated design or performance standards
- That the product instructions failed to contain adequate warnings
- The maker’s design was defective
As applied to defective drug cases, a plaintiff may pursue a case by alleging that a maker:
- Did not produce the drug as indicated by their designs
- That the packaging and literature that accompanied the product did not disclose all side effects, or did not include proper instructions for taking the drug
- That the design of the drug was defective at its core
An experienced defective medication lawyer in Wesley Chapel like Scott Distasio could help you choose a path to recovery that best fits the facts of your case. With Florida Statute § 95.11 placing a time limit of two years on most demands for compensation in these cases, it is important to contact a legal professional as soon as possible.
Contact a Wesley Chapel Dangerous Drugs Attorney Today
The resulting damage from taking a defective drug could have a permanent impact on your life. People take many of these medications for a specific purpose and on a doctor’s orders. When a mistake in design, dosage, or effect of that drug affects your health, the maker of the drug may be to blame.
State law says that makers of defective products are liable for any damage that results if a plaintiff can prove that an error in manufacturing, design, or a failure to warn of potential dangers has occurred. A Wesley Chapel dangerous and defective drugs lawyer could help you make these claims in settlement talks and in court following injuries and complications from medications.
Do not let a negligent or fraudulent drug maker get away with damaging your health. Let one of the committed attorneys at Distasio Law Firm fight for you. Call now.
