Atlanta Failure to Warn Malpractice Cases
In order to prevent unnecessary harm, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and all other healthcare providers in Atlanta are required to tell patients about common side effects they could expect from prescribed medication, dangerous interactions that medication could have with other drugs, and types of food to avoid consuming with that medication. Any failure to fulfill these obligations that leads to an injury to a patient could serve as valid grounds for a failure to warn claim.
Atlanta failure to warn malpractice cases are unfortunately common, and the consequences can be catastrophic. If you suspect you suffered harm due to this kind of medication error, it may be in your best interests to talk a team of client-centered attorneys who have access to an in-house doctor and state-of-the-art presentation technology.
Who Can File a Failure to Warn Claim?
In Atlanta, failure to warn claims stem from injuries caused by a healthcare provider’s failure to warn a patient of a known dangerous interaction or a common side effect of the medication they prescribed or provided to that patient. For such a claim to be successful, filing victims must prove that the healthcare provider breached the applicable standard of care by failing to warn him or her of a known dangerous drug interaction, and that he or she suffered actual damages or injuries as a direct result of that failure to warn.
Appropriate warnings related to a medication’s use and side effects can—and usually should—be advertised in several places. They should be in the take-home instructions given by a doctor or a nurse when a drug is prescribed, as well as verbally explained by numerous providers, including the pharmacist filling the prescription.
Additionally, warnings should be printed out and given by the pharmacist to the patient. Finally, any known food interactions, drug interactions, and side effects should all be on the container or bottle the drug is stored in.
Holding Drug Manufacturers Liable for Failure to Warn
A drug manufacturer is only responsible for known dangerous interactions with a drug. For example, if someone has a reaction that no other person has ever had to a particular drug, the manufacturer would not be civilly liable for any harm that patient suffered as a result.
In legal terms, this principle is known as the Learned Intermediary Doctrine, and it is a defense drug manufacturers commonly rely on in Atlanta failure to warn cases. This doctrine essentially says that once the drug manufacturer has told a “learned intermediary”—in this scenario, the prescribing physician—of all the known risks and contraindications associated with a medication’s interactions, the responsibility for relaying that information to the patient then shifts to the prescribing doctor, because that person has the more direct relationship to the patient at that point.
Pursuing Recoverable Losses for a Failure to Warn Claim
Damages in most failure to warn cases in Atlanta center around economic forms of harm like lost wages, future loss of income as proven by an expert economist, and past and future medical expenses. Depending on the circumstances, non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, mental suffering, and loss of consortium may be recoverable as well if the victim can show sufficient evidence of those kinds of losses.
When pursuing any of these damages, any information provided by the irresponsible doctor and/or pharmacy regarding what medication to take, the correct dosage, and the contraindications is critically important, as is the actual prescription bottle and the medication in it. Expert testimony may also be necessary to demonstrate that there was an error and that the error violated the standard of care and caused the patient’s injuries.
Filing an Atlanta Failure to Warn Claim with a Malpractice Attorney’s Help
Failure to warn claims in Atlanta usually require a thorough investigation to determine if there was an error, and if so, who was responsible for it. In addition to facilitating that process, a seasoned malpractice lawyer could take the lead in assembling all the evidence necessary to prove your claim and making sure you file suit in a timely fashion so you can effectively pursue compensation. To learn more, call at any time to speak directly to an attorney who offers free case reviews and who can use cutting edge technology to help you make a recovery.
