Pharmaceutical injury lawyers in Texas with Jim S. Adler & Associates can evaluate your claim for injuries if you were seriously harmed due to a defective drug.

"Pharmaceutical liability" is a term used to describe the legal consequences a manufacturer of drugs may face if its products injure people. The manufacturer may be found liable for making and selling a defective product (a claim of strict liability), or it may be found liable for not taking reasonable care to keep its products from causing injury (a claim of negligence). The law treats these two approaches to liability as distinct theories, and depending on the particular facts of the case, a person might recover damages on one theory but not the other. In some states, however, a statute creates single claim for product injuries, which may combine aspects of the two. Accordingly, if you believe you may have a claim against a drug manufacturer, you should not hesitate to seek legal advice from a lawyer with experience in this area.

Elements of a pharmaceutical injury claim

Although the law will vary from state to state, a claim for injuries arising from the use of a prescription or over-the-counter medication or an herbal or dietary supplement generally may proceed on two legal theories: strict liability or negligence. Under the strict-liability theory, the medicine is on trial and the jury will be asked to decide whether the medicine or its manufacturing process is defective. To prove the claim, you must show that the medicine has a defect that makes it unsafe, that the defect injured you, and that the injuries caused you monetary damage.

For the negligence claim, the manufacturer is on trial and the jury will be asked to decide whether the manufacturer's conduct was that of a reasonably prudent person. To prove the claim, you must show that the manufacturer owed you a duty of care-a duty to take steps to protect you from injury-and whether that duty was breached. You also must show that the breach of that duty caused your injuries and monetary damage.

Another thing to consider is whether a claim ought to be pursued against the doctor who prescribed the medication to you or to the pharmacy that filled the prescription or helped you decide what medicine to buy. These claims are distinct from claims against the manufacturer and need to be considered separately.

The distinction between strict liability and negligence, as well as the distinction between a products-liability claim and a malpractice claim, can affect many aspects of proving your case, and a lawyer with experience in products-liability and personal-injury can help you decide how to proceed.

The role of government oversight in pharmaceutical liability cases

Drug companies hoping to sell their products in the United States cannot do so until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews the medication and approves it for sale. The FDA does not guarantee drug safety. Once the FDA approves a drug for a particular use, patients who are injured by the drug-whether it is used for its approved purpose for some other reason (known as "off-label" use), must look to the manufacturer for redress. Manufacturers will sometimes try to persuade a jury that, because the FDA approved of the medication, the manufacturer should not have to answer for any injuries the medication caused. A lawyer with experience litigating pharmaceutical cases will have encountered this problem in other cases and will be able to explain it to you and help you collect evidence to persuade the jury that the manufacturer should not be let off the hook.

What to do if you have been injured

When a person is injured by an adverse reaction to a medication --  whether the medication was obtained through a prescription or over the counter or at a nutritional-supplement store -- it is important to seek legal advice as soon as possible. State laws impose deadlines on when a lawsuit must be begun and if that deadline is missed the case simply cannot proceed no matter how badly the person was injured. In some states, the time begins to run when you take the medicine. In other states, the time might not start to run until you learn that the medication may have caused your injuries. An experienced personal-injury lawyer can advise you as to whether you still have time to file your case and prepare the papers to file with the court.

DISCLAIMER: Though licensed to practice in Texas, the Texas law firm of Jim S. Adler & Associates, located at 3D/International Tower, 1900 West Loop South, 20th Floor, Houston, Texas 77027, also works, as necessary, with local and outside attorneys to litigate claims in other states, namely:

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