Tacoma Drug Injuries

When a doctor writes a prescription, you expect the medication to make you feel better. However, those very same drugs that can cure ailments can make you sick or even kill you. If a doctor misdiagnoses a problem or writes the wrong prescription, or if a pharmacist reads the prescription wrong or inadvertently puts the wrong drug or dosage into the prescription bottle, you could suffer drug injuries. Even if everyone did everything correctly, you might have an allergy to a drug, or the drug might be defective and could cause drug injuries.

If you suffered injuries or an illness because of drugs prescribed to you, contact a Tacoma drug injury lawyer at Strong Law Accident & Injury Lawyers to discuss a drug lawsuit at a free case evaluation.

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How We Can Help

Drug lawsuits are complex cases that can sometimes become class action or multidistrict lawsuits. Even when you are the only plaintiff, a drug injury lawsuit is still complex. Your legal team will investigate your case, including obtaining the opinion of your doctors and the opinions of expert witnesses – doctors who have testified in more than one medication error lawsuit.

We will:

  • Review your medical records to ensure the doctor prescribed the correct drug in the correct dosage.
  • Review pharmaceutical records to ensure the pharmacist did not err.
  • Test the drug to ensure it is the proper drug and/or ensure it was manufactured properly.
  • Determine the extent of your injuries, including whether they will cause long-term or permanent disabilities.
  • Help you find quality medical care for your injuries and/or illness caused by a bad drug.
  • Work with insurance companies to obtain a fair and reasonable settlement for you.
  • File a bad drug lawsuit if the insurance companies refuse a fair and reasonable settlement.

Dangerous Drug Law Laws

In most product liability cases, you can sue the manufacturer for a defective product. However, that does not necessarily hold true with prescription drugs. Most drugs have side effects. A drug that does not negatively affect you could make another person deathly ill. Thus, it is difficult to hold drug manufacturers responsible for injuries or illness unless you can prove that the drug is defective.

While a drug manufacturer does not have a duty to warn you of the side effects of a drug, it does have a duty to impart that information to doctors and pharmacists. The doctors and pharmacists have a duty to warn you of all side effects associated with the drug, even if the side effect only affects a very small percentage of the population that takes the drug.

When You Can Hold a Drug Manufacturer Liable

If you suffered an illness or injury because of a drug, you should always contact a Tacoma drug injury lawyer to help you recover damages. In most cases, you will have a case against a doctor, medical facility, or pharmacist. In most cases, you cannot hold a manufacturer liable because it did not warn you of the side effects of a drug. However, sometimes a manufacturer’s negligence causes you to become ill or injured by a drug.

If your legal team finds a manufacturer’s negligence caused the injury or illness, you can file a drug injury lawsuit against the manufacturer if:

  • The manufacturer erred in making the drug; i.e., the manufacturer used the wrong ingredients
  • The manufacturer misled the public about the drug’s uses
  • The manufacturer did not provide warnings to doctors and medical facilities, who then did not relay that information to the end-consumer (you).

One of the Tacoma medication error lawyers at Strong Law Accident & Injury Lawyers will research this as part of a medication error lawsuit to determine whether your bad drug lawsuit should name the manufacturer as a defendant in your case.

Dangerous Prescription Drugs

Many prescription and over-the-counter drugs are dangerous. However, certain drugs, such as the drugs in a chemotherapy cocktail, can cause severe illness. The trick is for doctors to figure out the better of the two evils – suffering or dying from an illness or injury, or prescribing a dangerous drug that if taken in the proper amounts could cause minor illness but could save you from pain and suffering or even death.

Some of the prescription drugs that could cause adverse reactions, even when not expected, include:

  • Opioids prescribed for pain
  • Benzodiazepines
  • Anti-seizure medications
  • Statins
  • Birth control medications
  • Steroids
  • Antipsychotics
  • Diabetes medications
  • Antidepressants
  • Blood thinners
  • Heart medications
  • Acne medications
  • Migraine medications.

When prescribing these and other medications, doctors must warn you of any dangers of taking the prescription and give you a choice as to whether you want to use it for treatment or try another drug.

Injuries Caused by Dangerous Drugs

Even when doctors prescribe dangerous drugs properly, they can cause complications, injuries, or even death. Some of the injuries drugs might cause, whether because of an allergy, misuse, wrong prescription, or even wrong drug, include:

  • Mood changes
  • Strokes
  • Heart attacks
  • Addiction
  • Organ damage and/or failure
  • Damage to muscles and other soft tissue
  • Collateral damage to others, such as accident injuries because someone was misusing drugs or suffered an unexpected reaction to a drug rightly or wrongly prescribed.

Recoverable Damages for Dangerous Drug Injuries

As with any other personal injury case, you could recover damages in a bad drug lawsuit, including economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Sometimes referred to as special damages, the court orders economic damages in an attempt to make you financially whole again. Economic damages have a monetary value and include:

  • Medical expenses, including doctors’ appointments, surgeries, long-term care, and therapeutic appointments, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological therapy and cognitive therapy. If a bad drug caused mobility issues, you could also recover expenses to update your home to make it more accessible, including ramps, widened hallways and doors, and grab bars.
  • Lost wages.
  • Loss of future earning capacity, whether you lost full-time or part-time income. You can generally collect loss of future earning capacity until your normal retirement age.
  • Death-related expenses, including funeral, burial and cremation expenses, and some probate expenses, including probate court fees and probate attorney expenses.

Non-Economic Damages

Sometimes referred to as general damages, the court orders non-economic damages in an attempt to make you financially whole again. Though no amount of money can remove injuries, cure illnesses or bring back a loved one, the money reduces the financial stress you suffer because you cannot work or you lost a loved one because of a medication error. Non-economic damages do not have a fixed monetary value and include:

  • Pain and suffering, including emotional distress
  • Loss of quality of life
  • Loss of companionship and/or consortium
  • Loss of use of a bodily function or body part.

Frequently Asked Questions for Tacoma Drug Injury Lawyers

  • How long do I have to file a dangerous drug lawsuit?

    Since the circumstances for suffering injuries and/or illnesses from a dangerous drug vary, the statute of limitations also varies. So you do not miss the opportunity to take legal action against a medical professional or manufacturer, it is always best to contact Tacoma medication error lawyers as soon as you learn that a medication caused injuries, illnesses, or death.

  • What do I do if a drug I have been taking is recalled?

    If you have excessive side effects or side effects not listed for the drug, or if a drug has been recalled, contact your physician as soon as possible. However, if you believe you suffered injuries or illnesses because of a bad drug, contact the Tacoma drug injury lawyers at Strong Law Accident & Injury Lawyers for a free case evaluation as soon as possible.

  • Do I have a case if my doctor gave me a drug for “off-label” use and I suffer injuries?

    It depends. If your doctor warned you of all of the possible side effects and dangers and prescribed the appropriate drug in the appropriate amount, you might not have a case. However, if you are not sure or if you believe you received the wrong drug or wrong dosage, or if you believe the drug is defective, contact bad drug lawyers in Tacoma at Strong Law Accident & Injury Lawyers for a free case evaluation.

  • What if I can’t afford a bad drug lawyer in Tacoma?

    Your initial case evaluation is always free, and you only pay fees if we win your case. During your initial case evaluation, we will go over a contingency contract with you, which outlines the fees and costs involved with a bad drug lawsuit.

  • How do I pay medical expenses until I receive a settlement or trial award?

    You can use your health insurance to cover most medical expenses. We can also help you with a letter of credit for the medical professionals and institutions treating you because of injuries in a bad drug case.

Attorney Jed Strong

Attorney Jed StrongJed Strong is the founder of Strong Law. He knows that accident injuries can be devastating to individuals and families, so he does everything in his power to ensure his clients recover every bit of compensation they deserve. Prior to representing accident victims, Jed worked for GEICO insurance company as one of its in-house attorneys – representing the insurance companies. After learning the inner workings of insurance companies, he quit and began representing accident victims. [ Attorney Bio ]

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    Contact a Tacoma Drug Injury Lawyer Today

    The bad drug case attorneys at Strong Law Accident & Injury Lawyers have the experience and resources to go after large manufacturers, doctors, hospitals, lobbyists, and their lawyers. Injuries from bad drugs do not always manifest immediately – you might have taken a drug several years ago and are just now becoming ill. Or, maybe you or a loved one became addicted to opioids – or someone else taking prescription drugs caused an accident that caused your injuries.

    It doesn't matter which scenario caused your damages. Contact a bad drug lawsuit team at Strong Law Accident & Injury Lawyers today at 206-741-1053 to schedule a free case evaluation.