The medical products made by big pharmaceutical corporations are vital to the health and well-being of millions of Americans. Unfortunately, some of those products also have dangerous flaws that their manufacturers have not adequately warned consumers about, and more of these dangerous drugs are released for public consumption every year.
When you believe an over-the-counter or prescription medication you took caused you serious physical harm through an undisclosed side effect or interaction with another drug, you should speak to a diligent personal injury attorney. You may have grounds to file suit against the company that made and sold that dangerous product to you and help from a Lancaster dangerous drugs lawyer could be crucial to getting a favorable case result.
In the interest of encouraging further research and innovation, neither federal nor state law holds companies that make and sell medications in Lancaster liable for every injury one of their products causes. However, these companies are still expected to diligently research and test all their new products to discover as many possible hazards as possible. They are also expected to warn doctors and consumers of all known hazards in the product’s advertisements or packaging.
Any drug company that fails to do these things and allows a dangerous product to harm a consumer may be held civilly liable for that consumer’s injuries and subsequent losses. More specifically, they may be strictly liable for those losses, and as a Lancaster dangerous drugs attorney could explain, this makes for a somewhat more straightforward civil claim compared to the theory of negligence that many other claims must be built around.
Unfortunately, even drug companies that should be strictly liable for dangerous drug injuries can be extremely difficult to file suit against successfully. Given the immense amount of financial and sometimes legal power these corporations have, an injured person going up against them alone has slim odds of getting any compensation for their injuries, let alone the total amount they deserve.
This is why most dangerous drug lawsuits that Lancaster residents end up involved in are mass tort claims, which is essentially, groups of people injured in roughly the same way by the same negligent party combining resources to sue that negligent party together. During a confidential consultation, a seasoned lawyer could discuss how these claims work in practice.
Even with mass torts, there are still strict time limits on starting a civil claim over a dangerous drug injury. Under 42 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes § 5524, most people who sustain a personal injury that some other person or company is liable for have two years at most to begin a lawsuit over it. However, the starting point for those two years may be pushed back in some situations if a long time passes between when an injury or illness first began and when the affected person discovered they were harmed.
No one deserves to sustain serious physical trauma from a medication they thought and were told by its manufacturer was safe. Unfortunately, this exact scenario impacts thousands of Americans every year, many of whom sustain life-altering damage due to the misconduct of major pharmaceutical companies.
You have a right to take legal action against a company that allowed you to be harmed in this way and help available from a well-versed Lancaster dangerous drugs lawyer in doing so. Call our firm today to discuss your legal options during a consultation.