When you start taking a new drug or medication, you expect that you will get the intended results or that it will enhance your life in some way. You expect drug companies to only market drugs that have been proven as safe and effective. Additionally, the label should accurately reflect certain information so that you are informed as a consumer. By law, if a drug company does not have side effects, injuries or complications labeled properly on their products, they can be held liable under a bad drug lawsuit.
What Does “Bad Drug” Mean?
While the FDA governs drug approvals and sets forth guidelines for drug companies, they do not actually test the drugs themselves. It relies on the company that produces the drug to do its own testing in regard to safety and effectiveness. This weak link in the system allows drugs to receive approval before they have been tested on a wide scale.
A medication is considered a “bad drug” when complications, injuries or side effects occur that weren’t labeled properly or made aware to the patient. A recent example of a bad drug is the Taxotere lawsuit that resulted in permanent hair loss for a good portion of the people who took it. Drug companies are run for profit, not for health. Unfortunately, when the interests of the shareholders take precedence, patients are the ones who suffer.
Can You File a Bad Drug Lawsuit?
If you have been injured by a bad drug, you deserve to receive compensation and seek damages for those harms. Lawsuits for these types of drugs are filed against the manufacturers that produce them.
When you file a bad drug lawsuit, your personal injury claim will often be amassed together with personal injury claims from other people who have also suffered as a result of the same drug. There’s a good reason for this since larger lawsuits tend to get the attention of the drug companies quicker. Often, this will lead to larger compensations and quicker results than if you were to try to take on the drug companies alone. A Taxotere lawsuit, for example, should result in seeing settlements much sooner as part of a “group lawsuit.”
Fortunately, the lawyers and judge assigned to the group lawsuit will take care of a lot of the initial framework of the case. Unless you are specifically selected as a “bellwether” case, it’s doubtful that the lawsuit will take up your time on a daily basis. You will have to communicate with your attorney, however, to ensure they understand the specifics of your case.
If you have been injured as a result of a bad drug, you can file a lawsuit to recover damages.