The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) takes the most responsibility in approving drugs and treatments for people with health conditions that need new medicines. According to a 2007 survey conducted by the Institute of Medicine, 1.5 million people suffered health conditions from “adverse drug effects.”
“I was frankly stunned at the scope of the problem,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg during a news conference last week.
Could this study imply the FDA isn’t doing its job in preventing adverse prescription drug side effects?
Our San Diego personal injury lawyers know that dangerous drugs can cause side effects that can be potentially fatal for some patients. New drugs are approved at a rapid rate it seems, and some may not be ready for patient use. Some of the side effects can cause wrongful death due to possible liver and kidney failure.
As a result of the new study, the FDA has asked doctors and other health care people as well as consumers to tell the agency about drugs that may be particularly damaging. Among the issues the agency found, the overuse of acetaminophen, a pain reliever that can cause liver damage when taken too much, was a high concern.
Other measures to reduce the incorrect dosing of drugs include more scrutiny given to patients like package inserts, instructions and labels given to pharmacists when giving prescriptions.
“About 99.5% of pamphlets are completely unregulated,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the health research arm of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. “They are missing critical information.”
Our firm’s experienced San Diego personal injury lawyers believe that the FDA needs to be doing everything they can do to protect consumers, and in some cases, needs to be doing more than just giving drugs the once-over. The FDA is responsible for preserving the health of millions of Americans, so this agency needs to take extra care when new products are being brought to them for approval as well as giving a description of what is a proper dosage.
Call us now at 1-800-655-6585 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney and find out how we can help you. We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case. No fee if no recovery.
About Michael PinesMichael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.
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Tags: adverse side effects, drug dosages, pharmaceutical malpractice
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