Dangerous Drugs

Fort Lauderdale Defective Drug Litigation Attorneys

The pharmaceutical industry is a mammoth sector of the national market; current estimates put health care spending at 15% of the overall gross domestic product for the United States, and pharmaceuticals make up 10% of that total cost. When a single industry becomes that large, maintaining order, standards, and safety becomes an issue in itself. After all, doctors, pharmacists, and other health care officials are people, and people make mistakes. In such a trade, however, even the smallest of mistakes can have a significant impact on the life and well-being of another. A drug that hasn't been properly tested can cause severe side effects that can cause serious discomfort, disability, or death.

The attorneys at Levine & Glassman are experienced in dealing with pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and release drugs that are considered defective, and they know what it takes to resolve drug litigation cases quickly and effectively. Among the issues one could face regarding dangerous drug situations are mis-filled prescriptions and pharmacy error, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, or other injuries occurring as a direct result of a medication.

Mis-Filled Prescriptions / Pharmacy Errors

Approximately 3% of all prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies contain some type of error. Typically, the error is harmless as it may just be a misspelled name or incorrect address. However, often the error is more serious, and places the patient at risk for a serious health related injury. Such errors may include a physician prescribing the wrong medication, a pharmacy technician improperly recording the prescription, or even the pharmacist dispensing the wrong medication.

As pharmacies and drug stores compete for your business and look for more cost effective ways to fill your prescriptions, safety is often sacrificed. Recently, ABC News reported on a new trend of hiring under trained teenagers by major pharmacies here in Florida to serve as the assistants who input patient data and prescription information into the computers which are relied upon by the pharmacists to verify the prescription information. In one such case in Florida, a teenager working part time in a Walgreen’s Pharmacy erroneously recorded an intended dosage of 0.1 milligrams as 1.0 milligrams. As a result, the pediatric patient received 10x the normal dosage and suffered a devastating seizure.

Defective Drugs / Pharmaceutical Litigation

Every year thousands of people die or become extremely ill from adverse reactions and side effects to prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Drugs such as Prozac, Fen-Phen, Vioxx, hormone replacement therapies (HRT), vaccines and antibiotics have been the focus of thousands of lawsuits and some major consumer protection legal victories.

In the lucrative world of manufacturing and distributing prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical companies are willing to go to extreme measures to gain an advantage over their competitors. Time and time again, major drug companies have been caught putting profits before safety. Recently, the maker of the powerful painkiller, OxyContin, and three of its executives, pleaded guilty to misleading the public as to the addictive nature of OxyContin. The manufacturer and those responsible agreed to pay $634.5 million dollars in fines for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications.

There are a number of drugs that are known to be linked with a serious negative side effect or complication that would render the drug to be considered defective:

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) is a serious medical condition in which the epidermis begins to separate from the dermis as a result of cell death in the skin. Many cases of this condition haven't been linked to any specific cause, but, of the known causes, certain medications are the most common factor. Generally speaking, the medications that have been linked to SJS are antibiotics and sulfa drugs.

Levine & Glassman, P.A. - Secure Your Representation Today

If you have suffered loss because of a clerical pharmaceutical error or defective drug, you may be entitled to compensation from the manufacturers. Contact the attorneys at Levine & Glassman today to obtain legal representation and begin the process of resolving your dangerous drug case in Broward, Palm Beach, or Miami-Dade counties. Call us at (954) 332-6100 or fill out our contact form to set up a free initial consultation with one of our attorneys.