Dangerous Drug Injury Lawyer

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The FDA reports that over three billion prescriptions are written each year. While these drugs help to combat illness and disease, many also carry serious risk. Adverse reactions to these drugs have caused more than four million emergency rooms visits.

The past has shown that dangerous drugs cause the most injury in the first 12 months after their release. This means that many medications are released without a full appreciation of their risks. Surprisingly many drugs are still pushed by drug companies even after evidence has arisen of serious risk associated with the medication. Under the law, drug makers are held to be strictly liable for any injuries if the product they sell is defective or unreasonably dangerous.

At McCollum Injury Law Firm, our Missouri and Kansas drug injury lawyers know how devastating drug injuries can be.

If you have been harmed by a prescription drug we can help you take legal action. We hold drug manufacturers accountable when they put dangerous products into the market. Our drug injury lawyers can help you to make a claim and get monetary compensation for the injuries you have suffered or for the death of your loved one.

Before a drug is sold the maker is responsible for testing the medication to ensure that it is reasonably safe. Manufacturers must supply information on the clinical tests to the FDA.  The FDA reviews that information along with any drug trials to determine whether the drug is safe and can be sold.

Virtually all medications have some side effects that are revealed in the tests. If the benefits of the medication outweigh the potential negative side effects the medication may be approved even with those dangers. However, the manufacturer has a duty to warn patients of the risk.  This warning is usually in the form of a warning label on the box or in the fact sheet of the drug.  Doing so allows patients and doctors to make an informed decisions regarding the use of the drug.

Unfortunately, all to often this system fails and dangerous drugs are approved and released to the public before the side effects are fully known and understood.

Issues that result in harmful drugs being sold include:

• loopholes in the FDA approval process such as 501(K). The FDA has a rules often referred to as 501(K).  501(k) allows medical devices to be fast-tracked through the approval process if there is already an existing product on the market. Some of the most dangerous medical devices sold in US recently used the 501(K) approval loophole. For example,  metal-on-metal hip replacement products and transvaginal mesh products.
• Drug reps pushing new medications and not disclosing harmful side effects. In 2013 the Journal of General Internal Medicine published a study of doctors in the United States and Canada which concluded that 59 percent of the time during a sales rep visit to physicians offices they failed to disclose “minimally adequate safety information” of the medications. As a result, doctors are prescribing drugs without being fully informed of the risks by drug makers. 
• Inadequate testing of long-term issues of taking a drug. Often the tests of a drug fail to reveal all possible side effects.  This is particularly true when drug is taken for a long period of time. This means that even when a drug company tries to manufacture a safe product, the medicine may be more dangerous than the testing revealed.
• Prescribing drugs for off-label uses. The FDA only approves medications for a specific use. Frequently, however, a drug will be used to treat other medical condition in which it was not tested or approved to treat. It is well known in the world of medicine that drug sales reps push doctors to prescribe their companies drugs for off label uses and doctors have routinely done so. This is referred to as off-label use. Off-label use can be very dangerous when drugs are used by people with conditions for which the medications were not approved.

If you or a loved one was prescribed these or other medications, you may experience a number of unexpected side effects. Serious side effects associated with dangerous drugs include psychological problems, birth defects, strokes, cardiac problems or heart attacks, kidney failure, liver failure or death.

Typically, the dangerous side effects may not show up for months or years after a drug’s use has become widespread. The FDA will begin receiving adverse reactions when problems develop, but manufacturers may be slow to recall dangerous drugs, if they are recalled at all.

If you or a loved one was harmed by a dangerous drug, you do not have to cope with the losses alone. Under the laws in Missouri and Kansas, drug manufacturers can be held legally liable if they produce and sell a drug that harms people.

When a drug manufacturer betrays your trust and makes you ill or harms you, you deserve to hold the manufacturer fully accountable. A team of legal professionals can advocate for you and help you to do just that.

If you have suffered injury or illness, or the loss of a loved one, due to a dangerous drug, you should speak with an attorney as soon as possible.   In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before a certain expiration date, known as a Statute of Limitations. To ensure you are not giving up your right to possible compensation or other benefits, please contact a injury lawyer immediately.