Dangerous Drugs Attorneys in Baton Rouge
When you take a prescription or over-the-counter medication, you expect it to relieve your symptoms and help you feel better. Unfortunately, people often end up suffering severe side effects and even permanent injury from unsafe medications.
If a medication has harmed you, seek help from a Baton Rouge dangerous drugs lawyer. A personal injury attorney could fight for damages that might pay your medical bills, cover your lost wages, and compensate you for your pain and suffering.
The Severity of Drug Injuries
Drugs adjust the chemical systems in the body to relieve symptoms and stop the progression of certain diseases—but these chemical reactions in the body could lead to dangerous consequences in some people.
Drug side effects can be minor annoyances or devastating long-term or permanent injuries. If the side effect caused you to suffer an economic loss or diminished your quality of life, you could potentially hold the manufacturer liable.
There’s a broad range of reactions that a patient might experience, but some severe side effects include:
- Blood clots leading to stroke or heart attack
- Kidney failure
- Anaphylactic shock
- Brain hemorrhage
- Psychosis
- Organ Damage
If a medication led to your illness or injury, consult a capable injury attorney in Baton Rouge right away. They could evaluate whether the circumstances warrant a lawsuit alleging the medication was defective.
Product Liability Act in Baton Rouge
The Louisiana Product Liability Act makes manufacturers liable for injuries and property damage people suffer from defective products. This is a strict liability statute, which means you don’t need to prove the manufacturer was negligent.
Louisiana Revised Statute §9:2800.54 states that your attorney must prove the product’s construction, composition, or design rendered the product unsafe, even though you used it correctly and as prescribed. You could also show a drug defect by proving that the label did not provide adequate warnings.
There are limits to a drug manufacturer’s liability. If you tampered with the medication, the manufacturer might not be liable. A manufacturer also might escape liability if you used the medication in a way that the manufacturer could not have anticipated. For these reasons, it’s important to have legal representation who can fight any claims manufacturers, or insurance companies might throw at you.
Statute of Limitations in Defective Medication Cases
Statutes of limitations define the timeframe you have to bring a lawsuit. In Louisiana, you generally must bring an action seeking damages for personal injury within one year of the injury. Because the time to take action in Baton Rouge is so short, it’s advisable to consult an injury lawyer immediately upon discovering that a dangerous drug caused a problem.
One year is a short period to bring a suit, but it’s even more problematic in drug injury cases because you might not realize immediately that a drug is causing a problem. Sometimes the effects of a drug do not manifest until long after you’ve stopped taking it.
The law gives you a break in cases of delay in discovering the injury or in making the connection between the drug and the injury. But you must file suit within one year of the date you discovered or should have discovered that the medication caused harmed you.
Fight for Compensation with a Baton Rouge Dangerous Drugs Attorney
The pharmaceutical industry is powerful and taking it on isn’t for the faint of heart. However, a Baton Rouge dangerous drugs lawyer wants to help you get justice if you’ve suffered because of a defective medication.
Contact us at (225) 240-4053 or fill out the form.