Medications have enabled many of us who suffer from illnesses and chronic conditions to feel better and go about our daily lives. In most instances, these medications have little to no side effects. In other cases, however, the side effects turn out to be incredibly dangerous and even fatal. Recently, a number of reports have indicated that Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid and other drugs of the same class, may pose serious risks of injury to patients who take them. These medications are classified as Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) and are frequently used to treat chronic heartburn, acid reflux disorders, peptic ulcer disease (PUD), or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Roughly 20 percent of Americans reportedly suffer from GERD.
A number of lawsuits have been filed against AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of these medications. Patients who took the drugs for a minimum period of time have experienced a number of painful and debilitating conditions like renal failure, interstitial nephritis, kidney failure, dementia, heart attacks and more. In many cases, these conditions caused permanent injuries that forever altered their quality of life.
If you have been injured as a result of taking a PPI pharmaceutical, you can file a claim for compensation or lawsuit against AstraZeneca to seek compensation for your damages. There are multiple causes of action that a plaintiff can assert in this type of action, including both negligence and strict product liability. In a strict product liability claim, the plaintiff is not required to establish fault. Instead, the plaintiff must show that the product in question has an unreasonably unsafe design, that it deviated from the manufacturing process in a way that rendered the pharmaceutical unreasonably dangerous, or that the manufacturer failed to include appropriate warnings and instructions with the drug.
A common claim in PPI lawsuits is that AstraZeneca failed to warn patients about the dangers of developing kidney-related illnesses and injuries as a result of taking the drug. Depending on the state in which the litigation is filed, the defendant may be able to assert the learned intermediary doctrine as a defense to a plaintiff’s claim.
This doctrine embodies the idea that a prescribing physician or doctor is in a better position than a manufacturer to warn a patient about a particular drug’s dangers and side effects. The manufacturer claims it has discharged its duty to warn the patient by providing information or warnings to the physician. Manufacturers like this theory, often indicating that they lack the channels or methods to communicate directly with patients and that imposing a duty to warn on the drug maker would interfere with the patient-physician relationship.
The majority of states have adopted the learned intermediary doctrine, but some states take different approaches to articulating the standard and what a defendant must prove to assert it as a defense.
At Moll Law Group, we are actively investigating and filing claims involving injuries stemming from PPI use, including Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid and numerous other PPIs. If you have suffered kidney damage, heart attack, dementia or other injury after taking one or more of these medications, we are here to help. We proudly serve clients throughout the United States including New York, Florida, California, Texas and Illinois. Our skilled team of Nexium lawyers offers free consultations to help injured consumers learn about the legal options available to them and their families. Call us at 312-462-1700 or contact us online to set up your appointment now.
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