The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the sale of prescription and over-the-counter medications throughout the country, even when there are known side effects. This is because medicine is widely complex, and many prescription drugs carry risks, but the key here is that the ones on the market should carry enough benefits that outweigh this. So, as a medical provider with the license to prescribe medications and treatment plans, it is your responsibility to follow the standard of care when doing so. If not, this may become a potential matter of medical misconduct. With that being said, please follow along to find out whether you are guilty once your patient experiences unexpected side effects and how one of the proficient New York physician defense lawyers at Walker Medical Law can help prove your innocence if this becomes a legal issue.
Am I guilty of medical misconduct if my patient experiences unexpected side effects?
Before prescribing a certain medication to your patient, you may have informed them about its associated risks, such as the possibility that they may experience nausea, headaches, drowsiness, body fatigue, dry mouth, and rashes. However, you may not have warned them about the highly adverse events they ultimately suffer from, like organ damage, neurological events, or allergic reactions. This may be because these side effects were unexpected, and this unpredictability may have been because of your medical misconduct. Below are more specific examples of when you may be found guilty of such:
- You may have prescribed a medication that was not indicated for your patient’s specific health condition.
- You may have prescribed a medication at an inaccurate dosage, for an incorrect duration, etc.
- You may have prescribed a medication that contraindicates your patient’s age, health conditions, existing medications, etc.
- You may have failed to monitor a patient after prescribing them with a high-risk medication (i.e., opioids, blood thinners, etc).
- You may have failed to stop treatment after a patient expressed “red flag” side effects (i.e., chest pain, shortness of breath, etc).
Under what circumstances are unexpected side effects the fault of a drug manufacturer?
Arguably, though, your patient’s side effects may have been unexpected due to circumstances beyond your reasonable control. In other words, it may not have been caused by how you administered the medication, but by who manufactured the drug in the first place. With that being said, the following are negligent drug manufacturing practices that may have caused such an event to occur:
- A drug manufacturer failed to identify and address a contaminant or chemical flaw within the drug.
- A drug manufacturer hid, downplayed, or did not properly disclose dangerous side effects to the FDA and licensed providers.
- A drug manufacturer failed to include dangerous side effects, interactions, or contradictions clearly on the warning label and packaging.
- A drug manufacturer failed to acknowledge reported and emerging risks that patients have experienced with the drug thus far.
For further legal assistance, please hire one of the talented New York physician defense lawyers from Walker Medical Law. Schedule your initial consultation with us today, and see just how much we can do for you.
