Defective Drugs Can Cause Serious Harm

Salt Lake City, UTAnyone who has suffered harm from a defective drug knows how serious the side effects can be. Many a defective drug lawsuit has been filed alleging that a medication has caused severe injury and even death. Sometimes, the injuries result in a defective drug recall, although this is not always the case. Sometimes the US Food and Drug Administration finds that the benefits of a drug still outweigh the risks, even in the face of public criticism.

Defective drugs come with a variety of difficulties. Sometimes, the adverse reactions are not adequately listed on the label or have not been found in pre-market testing. Sometimes, the problem is with the drug itself—it may contain a harmful ingredient that creates unexpected adverse reactions. Sometimes, the problem happens after the drug is approved for marketing; for example, the drug may become contaminated in some way or be manufactured to contain too much of an active ingredient.

The reactions to a defective drug can vary widely, as well. Consider these reactions all linked to medications: increased risk of heart attack, increased risk of stroke, increased risk of liver failure, increased risk of blood clotting, increased risk of tendon rupture, increased risk of tardive dyskinesia (a disorder characterized by involuntary movement), increased risk of suicidal thoughts and increased risk of necrosis of the jaw (literally, jawbone death). Some of these increased risks have resulted in the death of patients taking the drug. Others have resulted in serious, long-term injury.

Granted, these are not all side effects of 1 drug, they are adverse reactions to a number of drugs, but some of those adverse reactions are scary, especially considering the conditions they are designed to treat.

In some cases, the offending drug was pulled off the market by the FDA. In other cases, the FDA allowed the drug to remain on the market, but required changes to the drug's labeling, usually in the form of a black box warning. In still other instances, drugs were recalled to prevent any contaminated drugs from being ingested—with varying degrees of success.

It is not that the public believes that there should be drugs with absolutely no side effects—most likely everyone knows that all drugs come with side effects. However, nausea, headaches and the like are side effects that people might be willing to live with. A side effect in which a person cannot control her movement, in which her face twitches and her hands constantly tremble, is less likely to be considered tolerable. A side effect in which a person's liver can fail, especially when the drug is designed to treat mild to moderate respiratory infections, is similarly less likely to be considered tolerable.

When patients take medications, they do so because they have been told that the medication will help to make them better. They believe that if they follow the prescribing conditions, they will be okay—maybe not cured of whatever ails them, but at least okay. They do not expect that the very drug designed to help them will cause them more pain and agony.

Although drug companies say that patient safety is their priority, the truth is that drug companies are meant to make money—that's what comapnies do. So patient safety does not always come first. This means that when patients are harmed by a defective drug, it falls the patients to take action; to let the drug companies know that they will not stand for this treatment. Sometimes, the best way to do that is through the courts.