The companies that make medication have a duty by law to make sure the products they are giving out are safe. This is why the FDA exists to make sure there are regulations in place to keep people honest and avoid allowing something out into the market that will be harmful to people. Sometimes things slip through the cracks and sometimes someone in the process of creating the drug is negligent and it results in people being hurt or in the worst cases a loss of life.

Product Liability Laws

There are laws in place that allow those who have been harmed by a bad drug to file a legal claim for defects in the manufacturing of the drug. There are warnings on a lot of the drugs that you see advertised on television because the drug company has to take on liability for any side effects that might occur whether a person has a preexisting condition or not.

Types of Claims

There are a few types of claims that exist in the product liability field when it comes to pharmaceutical drugs. These include drugs with dangerous side effects, drugs that are marketed improperly, and drugs that are manufactured with defects. If a drug has a side effect that is deadly or harmful then there is a cause for a claim. Sometimes the manufacturer was actually aware that these side effects might exist and then it's up to the person bringing the claim to prove it. If a drug is marketed improperly then this means the warnings or instructions were not extensive enough to prevent whatever happened to the person bringing the claim. If the drugs are defective this could mean there was an error made by the manufacturer that tainted the drug and caused a problem.

Xarelto: A Blood-Thinner

An example of a medication that had several lawsuits against it is Xarelto. Xarelto is a blood-thinner and can actually cause bleeding that will not stop which can be very dangerous. The people who filed suits against the drug were family members who lost loved ones and those who were injured from uncontrollable bleeding because they said Bayer didn't warn them of this possibly fatal side effect. The over four thousand lawsuits claim that the company put making money from the sale of the blood thinner before the safety of their customers.

If you've been harmed by side effects of a medication or had a loved one who was then you owe it to yourself to talk to an injury lawyer to see what your options are.