San Antonio Drug Injury Lawyer

Prescription drugs and other medications administered by doctors are completely safe, or at least they are supposed to be. Unfortunately, errors in the formulation or administration of medication may force you to get in touch with a San Antonio drug injury lawyer. Instead of getting better after taking medication, you may end up sustaining a significant injury.

Drug companies and doctors are not immune from making mistakes. When they do make mistakes, they can prove costly and the makers of these drugs should be held responsible for the injuries you’ve received as a result of taking these drugs.

When you or a family member have suffered an injury or death as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a drug company, or your medical provided in prescribing such medications, you need someone to turn to for answers to your most important, and difficult questions. Our legal team is here to help!

Drug Injury and Medication Error Statistics

Many of us place our complete trust in doctors. To a certain extent, we also trust drug companies only to put out quality products because we know their profitability depends on doing so. It is reasonable to see things that way. Of course, doctors and those who work on making drugs still make mistakes.

When those mistakes occur, they can prove to be severely damaging. According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine, 7,000 to 9,000 people die every year in the United States due to a medication error of some kind. The study adds that medication-associated errors are also adversely affected by over 7 million people annually. It also states that hundreds of thousands of people each year experience issues related to their medication but do not report their symptoms.

If those were the only problems caused by drug injuries and medication errors, it would already be a terrible situation. But, sadly, those injuries and errors can bring about additional consequences that put people further in peril. Some of the patients who experience medication-associated injuries may also suffer from mental trauma. As a result, they may never feel comfortable taking medication ever again.

Patients who have already suffered medication-associated injuries may also refuse or at least delay important treatment because they do not feel safe participating in the healthcare system anymore. Medication-associated injuries can prove costly in more ways than one. Reach out to a drug injury attorney if you are currently dealing with that.

What Are Defective Drugs?

When does a particular drug go from being risky due to the side effects it may cause to being downright defective? First, as with other products, you must ascertain the defect’s nature. A drug can be defective due to its formulation. The manufacturers may have overlooked certain drug effects that could be potentially harmful while formulating it. Those side effects may be so bad that they vastly outweigh any benefits that the drug may also provide.

At that point, the manufacturer should have shelved the drug until they could create something safer. Releasing the drug for public consumption could be viewed as negligence on their part. Drugs can also be defective because of mistakes made during the manufacturing process. For example, production, transport, or storage errors could taint certain drugs. As a result, those drugs may not produce the intended effects once patients consume them.

One of the companies involved in the supply chain could be on the hook for letting something like that happen. Drugs may also be defective because they are labeled improperly. For example, a manufacturer may know about certain side effects but fail to indicate them on the label. That oversight, whether intentional or not, could be grounds for a lawsuit. Work with a dangerous drug attorney in Bexar County if you believe a defective drug injured you.

What Is a Prescription Drug Error?

Patients should be concerned about more than defective drugs. Even if they properly made a drug and delivered it, your doctor may still make a mistake while prescribing or administering it. In this section, we will highlight some of the prescription and administration errors doctors may make. Keep them in mind to better understand if something went wrong during your doctor’s appointment.

Failing to Account for a Patient’s Medical History while Prescribing Medicine

Doctors should always consider a patient’s medical history before prescribing any medication. If they do not do that, they may prescribe medication that could trigger an allergic reaction. The lack of knowledge regarding a patient’s medical history could also cause a doctor to prescribe medication that reacts poorly with a different drug that person is already taking. The patient could end up badly injured due to that mistake.

There is no excuse for doctors to make those critical mistakes. Hire a legal representative and sue your doctor for negligence if you ever experience something like that.

Providing Incorrect Details in the Drug Prescription

Prescription errors could also stem from mistakes doctors make while noting the dosage or the schedule for a particular drug. Due to those mistakes, the drug may have adverse effects on the patient. The doctor must be held accountable for making those careless mistakes.

Incorrectly Administering an Injection

You may need to get an injection to treat the injury you are currently dealing with. Ordinarily, that is not a big deal. Doctors administer injections all the time, and they are often uneventful. Still, doctors can make mistakes. They may make mistakes even while conducting a routine procedure, such as administering an injection. If you are affected by that error, you should hold your doctor accountable. Partner with a drug injury lawyer or Texas medical malpractice lawyer and sue your doctor for causing further injuries.

Inadequate Monitoring after Prescribing Drugs

Certain drugs that a doctor prescribes may have some strong side effects. Those drugs may be necessary for your treatment, but they could also harm you if they are left unchecked. A doctor should take full responsibility for prescribing those drugs by closely monitoring how they affect you. If they fail to do that, you can sue them for negligence.

Omitting a Drug from Your Prescription

Another error that doctors may make while prescribing medication involves the lack of prescription. The mistake could be them failing to give you the medication you need. This is a serious error on your doctor’s part. Take immediate legal action so your doctor does not get away with making that mistake.

How Can a Texas Drug Injury Attorney Help?

San Antonio, TX, residents who suffer ill effects from medication directly administered by a medical professional should strongly consider hiring a dangerous drug lawyer. Why is hiring a lawyer so important in that scenario? The reasons detailed below should answer that question.

Collect Evidence to Bolster Your Case: Gathering plenty of evidence is a must if you are trying to sue a doctor or any other medical professional. Your lawyer can take care of that. A good dangerous drug lawyer will interview witnesses, examine medical records, and collect any evidence available to strengthen your claim. As a result, you can feel better about your odds of winning the case with a good lawyer by your side.

Handle Conversations with the Other Party: After seeing the amount of evidence you have gathered, the other side may not feel confident about their chances of mounting a successful defense. Knowing that, they may approach you with an offer to settle the case. Settling a case like this is not a bad idea, but you must be certain that you are getting a fair deal.

Let your San Antonio personal injury lawyer handle the negotiations to ensure you get a good deal. Remember that you can still go to court if no deal is reached.

File Your Lawsuit on Time: The statute of limitations for filing personal injury lawsuits in the state of Texas is two years. That may seem like a long time, but it can pass quickly if you focus on your recovery. Allow your dangerous drug attorney to handle the lawsuit filing, so you do not worry about exceeding the statute of limitations.

Injuries Caused by Defective Drugs

Taking a defective drug can jeopardize your health. In addition, a defective drug can cause an immediate medical emergency along with adverse long-term effects. Let’s examine the injuries those defective drugs may cause below.

• Strokes: Some drugs that reach the market can put you at greater risk of having a stroke. If your doctor is not careful about your prescription, you may experience that traumatic event. Doctors should weigh the risks carefully when prescribing those drugs. Then, they should opt for safer alternatives whenever they are available.
• Liver/Kidney Failure: Potent drugs can wreak havoc on weak immune systems. The liver and kidneys are especially vulnerable to those types of drugs.
  You may experience liver and/or kidney failure if your doctor does not recognize the effects of those powerful drugs on your body.
• Birth Defects: The injuries caused by defective drugs may affect more than the people directly receiving them. The side effects those drugs are known to cause may also affect unborn children. Doctors should be especially cautious when prescribing medication to pregnant women. They must be certain that those drugs will not endanger the expecting mothers and their babies.
• Death: In rare cases, a defective drug’s adverse effects could prove fatal. It could trigger a heart attack or some other serious health issue. Doctors must always be aware of the capabilities of the drugs they are prescribing/administering to prevent a potential tragedy. Cases like this would require the services of a San Antonio wrongful death lawyer.

Types of Drug Recalls

Drug recalls are initiated to remove potentially dangerous drugs from the market. The FDA may initiate a drug recall after receiving complaints from members of the public. In some cases, the drug manufacturers themselves may recall their products. After learning about the potentially harmful effects of their drugs, manufacturers may request help from the FDA to pull their products from the shelves as soon as possible.

There are different classifications issued for drug recalls. Let’s talk more about those classifications and what they mean.

• Class I Drug Recalls: Class I drug recalls are the most urgent that may become issued by either the FDA or the drug companies. If you hear about this type of recall, the drug they are pulling can cause serious health problems. A person who takes the drug may even pass away from the ill effects it causes.
• Class II Drug Recalls: The FDA and drug companies will issue Class II drug recall for products that cause temporary health problems. There is also a small chance that these drugs may cause potentially serious complications.
• Class III Drug Recalls: Finally, the FDA and drug companies may also issue Class III drug recalls. Interestingly, products pulled back due to a Class III drug recall may not necessarily cause any ill effects. These products are mainly being brought back because of labeling or manufacturing issues. However, you should still err on the side of caution and avoid those drugs.

What Types of Compensation Can I Expect for My Texas Drug Injury Claim?

Drug injury cases are personal injury cases in the state of Texas. Because of that, victims who win their respective cases are eligible to receive economic and non-economic damages.

Economic Damages in Drug Injury Cases

Upon winning your drug injury case, you will be in line to receive economic damages. The economic damages in your drug injury case should help you pay for your medical expenses. The money you are receiving should also allow you to secure treatment for any long-term injuries you sustained.
Economic damages will also cover your lost wages.

Non-Economic Damages in Drug Injury Cases

Plaintiffs in drug injury cases may also be awarded non-economic damages. Those non-economic damages should cover your unquantifiable losses.
For example, many patients victimized by drug-related injuries may suffer from psychological trauma. The non-economic damages offer some form of compensation for that unfortunate turn of events.

Drug Injury FAQ’s

Each year there are millions of Americans who suffer injury or death because of prescription drug complications, side effects, defects or errors. When you use a dangerous prescription drug, often times your condition can worsen, and you may even experience additional illnesses, pain, and suffering that you wouldn’t otherwise have experienced had you not taken the dangerous drug.

Our San Antonio, and South Texas pharmaceutical attorneys put together a wealth of information to help answer your important questions. This website, and our team of experienced pharmaceutical litigation lawyers, can start answering your most important and immediate medical and legal questions right here, and right now. Questions such as:

• How will I pay for my medical bills?
• How am I going to make up for the time I have lost from work?
• How will I be compensated for my injuries?
• Will the insurance company treat me fairly?

How Do I Know if I Have a Dangerous Drug Claim in Texas?

You might have a dangerous drug case if you or a loved one has suffered harm, health deterioration, or death because of a dangerous or defective prescription drug.  If that is the case, you may have a defective prescription drug case, and be entitled to compensation for your injuries.

While nearly everyone can have an adverse reaction to a prescription drug, that doesn’t always mean you have a solid dangerous drug claim.  However, if a pharmaceutical company fails to adequately warn people about potential adverse effects, hides known risks, or is otherwise negligent, and you suffer an injury because of a bad side effect, you could have a valid claim against the pharmaceutical company.

Known Dangerous Drugs

There are several drugs currently on the market that have already been shown to have adverse effects and are thus the target of class action lawsuits.  A drug does NOT need to be recalled before you have a valid case.  In fact, many of the drugs that are currently the subject of lawsuits have not been recalled by the FDA.  Also, just because a drug has received FDA approval does not mean it’s safe, nor does it preclude you from hold a drug manufacturer liable for injuries caused by their products.

The following are drugs on the market that have known side effects:

• Abilify
• Crestor
• Cymbalta
• Farxiga
• Fosamax
• Lipitor
• Mirena
• Paxil
• Prozac
• Viagra
• Zofran
• Zoloft

If you have been prescribed one of the drugs in the above list, you could be entitled to compensation if you’ve been injured or suffered adverse reactions. Remember, the above list is not a complete list.  If you believe you have been harmed by any prescription medication, you should contact an experienced injury lawyer right away.

Act Quickly – Dangerous Drug Claims Have Strict Deadlines

Like any other type of injury claim, dangerous drug claims are subject to strict timelines that must be followed if you want to follow a claim.  The statute of limitations in most dangerous drug claims is two years from the time you discover you were harmed by a dangerous drug.  In some cases, the timelines may be shorter.

If you fail to file a claim within the prescribed time limit you could lose your right to seek compensation – forever.  There are rarely exceptions to these time frames, so it’s important that you talk with an experienced attorney as soon as possible upon realizing that you’ve been hurt by a dangerous drug.

Contact Barrus Injury Lawyers Today

Injuries that occur from the use of dangerous prescription drugs likely require significant medical care, which may cause you significant financial distress. This is why it is important to have a trusted legal team of drug injury and pharmaceutical lawyers to answer your important questions, direct you, and help you protect and pursue your legal claims against manufacturers of dangerous drugs, or the physicians who prescribed them.