by Allan Gregory
When you’re prescribed medication, whether that’s a medication to maintain your health or to improve a short-term condition, you probably expect it to do what it says on the bottle. Unfortunately, you might now be in the hospital because it didn’t do that. Instead, it left you in worse health than ever.
When your medicine is defective, it can affect your long-term health, making it tough to recover from your losses. You might be thinking about filing a lawsuit against the responsible party, but who is the liable party? You may need help identifying the right person for your liable party for your product defect claim.
How to Identify the Responsible Party
Fighting a claim when you’re already suffering through injuries and illnesses is already tough. When the liable party could be a number of parties, that makes it even tougher to act now and get compensation for your losses.
Often, finding the liable party depends on the specific details of your claim and where the medication was wrong for you. For example, not every medical injury is caused by a mistake in the medication itself. In some cases, how, how much, and why it was administered could be dangerous, even if the medication wouldn’t have otherwise harmed you.
Below are just a few of the possible liable parties you may be dealing with after a medication-caused illness. These people or groups may be held responsible for their actions in court, so make sure you seek out the right party to get the compensation you need for your losses.
Your Doctor
If you’ve gotten sick from your medication, your doctor might be the first person you think of. A careless doctor can do a lot of damage. The medication may not have even been a problem, for example, but your doctor didn’t consider allergies and reactions you may have had in the past.
In other cases, your doctor might have prescribed the wrong medication for your illnesses. Some conditions look similar to one another, but have different treatment options. If your doctor wasn’t paying attention to your symptoms, they may have diagnosed you incorrectly and left you with more serious losses.
Suing your doctor won’t be easy, however. They have certain protections by the law, like damage caps and time limits that make it tough to act. You may need to talk to a New York City personal injury lawyer just to determine what hospital group to contact, not just the responsible doctor.
Pharmacists
If your doctor correctly prescribed your medication, they may not be held responsible for your injuries. However, if a pharmacist incorrectly filled your prescription, they could be the ones liable for the suffering you’ve been through.
Pharmacists are trained to correctly fill, label, and distribute medicine. They’re responsible for making sure that all patients get their correct medicine. When the pharmacist mistakenly gives you the wrong medication, or if they give you the wrong dose, it can damage your health. For example, if your pharmacist carelessly gave you a higher dose of insulin, you could suffer severe health consequences.
Unfortunately, filing a lawsuit against a pharmacist often comes with some complications. Because they were at work at the time, you may file a claim against the pharmacy instead for the incorrect medication. Your lawyer can talk with you about your options for suing the correct party.
Manufacturers
In some cases, the medication itself was made improperly. In some factories and testing facilities, it’s possible for different drugs to be combined, which could make for a deadly combination. Worse, some companies may try to speed through the testing process. That means you may have gotten a medication where not all the side effects are known.
That’s especially dangerous if you’re pregnant. Some medications can cause miscarriages, birth defects, and conditions that could hurt you and your child. If you were hurt from unseen side effects or because the drugs in question are dangerous, you may have a case against the company that made the medicine.
When Advertising Is to Blame
Chances are good that you’ve seen ads about drugs that should fix your illnesses, chronic or otherwise. These ads may even make bold claims about how fast and well this medication works. It may have been enough to convince you to try it, only to be sicker than ever.
When a drug is advertised as being more powerful than it is, or if it’s advertised for one use when it’s dangerous to use that way, you could get seriously ill, making it tough to recover from your suffering. The company in charge of advertising the product and designing the promotional material could be held responsible for your worsening condition.
How an Injury Lawyer Can Help with Medication Defects
All this might already sound overwhelming. You might be thinking about giving up and focusing on healing. However, you do have options for financial recovery, even if it seems difficult now.
If you’re not sure who’s responsible for your worsening condition, you may need an attorney’s help to recover from your losses. They can review the details of your illness and find out why your condition worsened. They can also represent you in court, which means you can spend even more time focusing on your physical recovery, not on fighting for your compensation.
Taking a Medication Defect Claim to Court
If you’ve been hurt because someone was careless with your medication, you may be eligible for compensation from the liable party. Identifying the liable party alone can be tough, though, which is why you may need help with taking your defective drug claim to court.
If you’re struggling to fight for your compensation after your medicine made you sicker, reach out for help taking your claim to court. Your attorney may be key to your financial recovery. With a lawyer on your side, you’ll have a better chance of fighting for your compensation and getting the full compensation you deserve. Get the help you need when you’re unsure where to turn after your health worsens.
About the Author
Allan Gregory is an author, designer, engineer, artist, playwright, and comedy writer. His work across multiple disciplines broadly addresses the narratives of human experience. As a playwright, Allan has had his pieces performed at multiple playhouses. As an artist and illustrator, he has had his art exhibited at multiple galleries. His work has appeared on a number of online and offline outlets.
