South Florida Unsafe Drug and Medical Device Lawyers

There are many types of causes of action a patient can bring against a manufacturer of a drug that fails to warn them about harmful potential side effects.  We file lawsuits on behalf of anyone that has been harmed by a pharmaceutical company’s negligence.  Whether the company failed to warn you about the harmful side effects of a drug, or the design of a device provides no efficacy compared to other safer medical devices, the South Florida Unsafe Drug and Medical Device Attorneys at Light & Gonzalez, PLLC will investigate your potential claim and discuss your legal options with you.

Claims Our South Florida Drug and Device Lawyers May Bring

Negligent Failure to Warn:

Although regulated by the FDA, the manufacturers of name brand pharmaceuticals are responsible for ensuring their own warning labels are up to date.  While many of the side effects of a drug are revealed during clinical trials before the drug ever hits the market, other side effects will not be known until well after a drug is on the market. Sometime’s a drug’s most important warning will not make it to the label into well after the drug has gone generic. It is the drug company’s responsibility to monitor the side effects that their drugs are causing and to update their prescription warning labels as soon as their current labeling no longer reflects the true risks of taking the drug.

If a a drug company fails to update their warning to show a new side effect, or fails to update their warning to reflect an increased warning about an already known side effect, the drug company may have negligently failed to warn you and your doctor about risks of taking a particular drug. Doctors regularly review warning information about drugs, and changes to a warning label regularly effect their decisions to prescribe one drug over another. If doctors are not given the correct information from the company responsible for keeping the labeling up to date they cannot make informed decisions about your health care.

Light & Gonzalez, PLLC handles negligent failure to warn cases and other claims based on an unsafe drug or medical device throughout South Florida and around the country.  We focus on working to getting you compensated injuries caused by another party’s negligence. Contact our South Florida Unsafe Drug and Medical Device Attorneys today.

Strict Products Liability:

When a patient is injured by a drug or medical device defect, claims will generally be based on strict liability or negligence. Strict liability focuses on the product and whether it is unreasonably unsafe. The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approves drugs and medical devices for sale, but it does not guarantee that a particular product is safe. It is the medical device manufacturer’s responsibility to ensure that the device is safe, and if it is not then state laws provide remedies to patients that are injured by the devices. Medical device defects are often categorized as either design defects or manufacturing defects. A design defect is where the basic design of the product makes the product unreasonably unsafe. A manufacturing defect is where unintended consequences from the manufacturing process cause the medical device to not operate correctly and makes the medical device unreasonably unsafe. Whether a claim is based on strict liability or negligence depends on the type of defect involved and the warnings that were given (or not given).

Drug and Medical Device Recall Claims

Black Box Warnings

Black Box warnings are the most powerful warning the FDA can require a drug company to place on their warning label. These warnings are literally surrounded by a thick-lined black box in order to draw your attention to that particular warning. Our South Florida Drug and Medical Device Lawyers know how to bring claims against drug companies. Black box warnings may contain warnings about the risk of death when taking a drug, but they are not limited to life threatening side effects.  In fact any number of side effects could be serious enough to warrant a black box warning such as the prevalence of tendon related injuries after taking the drug or permanent movement disorders resulting from taking a drug.

A drug company may not initially believe that a side effect is serious enough to warrant a black box warning label, so it will appear someone else on the label like the precautions section. Eventually though, if the incident rate of that side effect rises or it shows that it was more serious than initially thought. When this happens our South Florida Drug and Medical Device Lawyers will investigate to see when the drug companies should have updated their warnings.

Device Recalls:

When a drug or medical device is so unsafe that it poses a danger to the public and has very little if any efficacy, the FDA or the manufacturer may order a recall of the unsafe drug or medical device. “Medical device manufacturers have the responsibility to perform reasonable testing prior to making a product and to discover risks and risk avoidance measures that such testing would reveal.” Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 6.  Our South Florida unsafe drug and medical device lawyers know that slthough the government requires drug and medical device manufacturers to perform adequate tests on their products, these test will not always show the real risk of a particular drug or device.  Long-term effects of medical products cannot always be anticipated, but manufacturers still have a responsibility to conduct testing and to continue testing in case there are long term effects.

Contact Light & Gonzalez, PLLC today to speak with South Florida Unsafe Drug and Medical Device Lawyers. We will discuss all of the options you have available, and we will work with you to try to achieve your goals whether you would like to try to modify your loan or you want to fight the bank in litigation.