contact us today (775) 789-4944 contact us today (775) 789-4944Every day, millions of Americans take thousands of over-the-counter and prescription medications to alleviate everything from minor aches and pains to potentially life-threatening chronic health problems. Broadly speaking, most of the medicines sold in the United States are safe to use as directed and perform their advertised function effectively for most patients. Unfortunately, some consumer drugs are put on the market by their makers with dangerous and even deadly defects in them.
If you were hurt by a contaminated medication or from an undisclosed side effect or contraindication with another drug, you may have grounds to file suit with a personal injury attorney’s help against the company that made and sold that medication to you. This is far from a simple process under the best of circumstances, though, so after seeking necessary medical care, contacting a Reno dangerous drugs lawyer should be a top priority after being harmed in this way.
Because pharmaceutical companies produce vitally important products, and because research and development into new medications is inherently an imperfect process, neither state nor federal law holds drug companies liable for every single negative effect that one of their products has on a Reno consumer. That said, these companies are obligated to perform due diligence in researching and testing new products to discover all possible harmful effects they could have, and then to inform both doctors and consumers about those risks once the product goes on sale.
Unfortunately, that is a fairly simplistic summary of what is often an extremely complex mix of legal and practical concerns, made all the more complicated by how much money “Big Pharma” corporations dedicate towards fighting civil litigation filed against them. For this reason, it is often essential to join forces with other people injured by the same defective medication through a “mass tort” or “class action lawsuit,” as a Reno dangerous drugs attorney could further explain during an initial consultation.
Whether someone pursues a claim over a dangerous drug independently or as part of a mass tort or class action, they have a right to demand restitution for the full value of all economic and non-economic “damages” they will experience because of the dangerous drug in question. Importantly, this can include both losses that have already occurred by the time the litigation process begins and losses that can be expected to occur in the months, years, and even decades to come.
Specific damages which are often factored into cases of this nature include:
Once again, a defective drugs lawyer in Reno could go into more specific detail about “compensable losses” for a particular person during a private meeting.
Thousands of medication-related injuries and illnesses occur in America each year, and many of them could have been prevented if the companies that made those dangerous products fulfilled their “duty of care” toward consumers. Even if you have very strong grounds for a claim like this in theory, getting a good case result in practice can be next to impossible for anyone to accomplish alone.
Fortunately, you will not be alone and will have much-improved chances of getting the compensation you need if you seek help from a seasoned Reno dangerous drugs lawyer. Call today to discuss your options.