Medical Devices and Drugs

Posted on Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Patients taking pharmaceutical medications expect to see improvement in their health, not deterioration. If a personal injury or wrongful death occurs, the victim has the right to pursue compensation for medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, physical and emotional trauma, and other losses.

Medical complications and other drug-related injuries could be caused by improper prescription or administration by doctors and pharmacists. A doctor or pharmacist’s failure to warn patients about grave side effects and severe drug interactions may result in serious injury, such as liver failure, birth defect, increased risk of heart attack, muscle damage, heart valve failure, blood clots, and stroke.

A serious threat to public safety is the availability of dangerous prescription drugs. Drug companies, in their rush to market, sometimes withhold or misrepresent important safety information before, during, and after clinical trials and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process or other licensing procedures. The attorneys at Coker, Schickel, Sorenson, Posgay & Iracki possess the knowledge, skills, and resources to successfully handle lawsuits involving pharmaceutical defects. We believe that our work on behalf of clients provides a clear message to the government and to drug manufacturers that they have a grave responsibility to the public when approving or marketing dangerous prescription drugs.

What drugs and devices are dangerous?

A medication can be dangerous because of improper labeling or insufficient warnings. Another might, when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer, cause a serious or fatal injury. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has recently limited the rights of some victims of med devices to recover for their injuries, a failure to meet FDA requirements may still leave manufactures exposed when their products cause injury. A medical device may have a design or manufacturing defect, or it may have been negligently maintained by a distributor. Dangerous drugs and devices include the following:

• Painkillers and arthritis drugs such as Vioxx, Bextra and Celebrex have been linked to heart attacks, strokes and skin disease.
• Psychological drugs such as Zyprexa have been linked to potentially harmful side effects, including diabetes and suicidal thoughts.
• The acne treatment Accutane has been shown to cause birth defects when taken by pregnant women, and depression and suicide in adolescents.
• Diet drugs and dietary supplements, including Fen-phen and Ephedra have caused damaged heart valves, lung disease, high blood pressure and other heart problems.
• The cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol has caused severe muscle reactions and kidney damage.
• Defective morphine pumps have delivered fatal overdoses.

The attorneys of Coker, Schickel, Sorenson, Posgay & Iracki represent victims of dangerous drugs and defective medical devices. Do you suspect a dangerous drug caused the wrongful death of your loved one, or a defective medical device caused your injury? Are you having trouble getting a straight answer from a member of the pharmaceutical industry or the medical profession? Our lawyers work with scientific and medical experts to determine exactly what caused a patient’s death or injury. If injury or death was caused by a defective or dangerous medical product, our firm will fight to get you the compensation you need and deserve.