Olympia Dangerous Drugs Lawyer

Have you experienced an adverse, preventable reaction to a medication? If so, we encourage you to reach out to an Olympia dangerous drugs lawyer.

One of our skilled attorneys can investigate the facts of what happened and inform you of your legal rights. If you’ve suffered harm, you might be eligible to pursue a cash settlement.

How Drugs Can Become Dangerous

There are several ways in which medicines, even ones that are approved and prescribed by your doctor, can harm you. In our practice as personal injury lawyers, we’ve helped clients over the years who have been harmed in a variety of ways from medicines.

Some examples include:

Incorrect prescription. In this scenario, the doctor prescribes the wrong medicine for your treatment. For example, the doctor might have neglected to note your allergies or other medications you’re taking.
Incorrect dosage. Maybe the medication was correct, but the dosage was too high or too low.
Failure to warn. Your doctor is obligated to explain possible adverse side effects and signs to watch for.
Pharmacist errors. It’s also possible for the error to happen at the pharmacy. You rely on your pharmacist to fill the doctor’s script as written.
Manufacturing errors. Medicines can be tampered with, spoiled, or otherwise damaged during the manufacturing process.
Defective medical devices. On our blog, we’ve written about the Allergan breast implant recall as well as issues with intragastric balloon surgeries. Manufacturers can be held accountable if a defective device harms your health.

No matter what happened, it’s important to reach out to one of our Olympia lawyers if you’ve suffered preventable harm from prescription medicine. From there, we can explore what happened to you and determine if you have a valid personal injury case.

Preventing Adverse Reactions

Here are some questions you can ask your doctor before starting a new medication. Gathering this information can help reduce your chances of a medication error:

Will I be taking the brand name or generic version of the medication?
What effect is the medicine supposed to have?
How long will I need to take the medicine before I see results?
What dosage do I need to take?
How long will I be taking this medicine?
What happens if I miss a dose?
What should I do if I accidentally take more than the prescribed dose?
Are there any medicines, foods, drinks, or activities I should avoid while taking this medicine? (Remind your doctor of any medications or vitamins you’re currently taking.)
What are some of the common side effects?
Are there any side effects I should watch out for?
Who should I call if I have any questions about this medicine once I start it?

Your doctor can reduce the chances of an error by filling your medication over the computer versus handwriting a prescription.

Finally, double check that the medication and dosage you pick up from your pharmacist match what you were prescribed by your doctor.

Do You Have a Valid Dangerous Drugs Case?

In any personal injury case, our job is to determine:

Someone owed you a duty of care;
They breached that duty; and
That breach caused your injury which resulted in damages.

It’s important to understand that it’s not good enough that the mistake could have caused you harm. We must prove that it did cause you harm. In the State of Washington, victims can pursue compensation for their economic (medical bills, lost wages) and non-economic (pain and suffering) damages. In other words, you wouldn’t have a case if you realized you’d been given the wrong medicine but didn’t ingest it. It’s a different matter if you did and wound up hospitalized.

Call a Lawyer Today

The first step is to set up a free case evaluation with an Olympia dangerous drugs lawyer today.

To be sure, you are under no obligation when you meet with one of our lawyers. If we do end up working together, please know that we work on a contingency basis. In other words, you only pay us if we’re able to win you a settlement. Set up your meeting today.