Can You Sue Drug Manufacturers For Failure to Warn? It May Depend On Whether You Purchased Generic Or Name-Brand Drugs

The New York Times just reported on a problem I blogged about many months ago: Brand-name drug producers can be sued for failing to provide adequate warnings of prescription drug dangers while the producers of the generic form of the drug cannot. Why? Because the Supreme Court says so. I refer you to the Times article as well as to my previous blog post.

The Times article demonstrates the stark unfairness of this state of the law with a “tale of two cities”. In the first case, a woman had to have her hand amputated after an emergency room nurse injected her with an anti-nausea drug, causing gangrene. The drug happened to be a generic drug. She sued for the manufacturer for failure to warn about the risks of injecting it, and her case was dismissed. Another woman with the same injury who was injected with the same drug, but of the brand-name variety, sued on the same facts, and won big ($6.8 million). A $6.8 million dollar difference due solely to the “luck of the draw” in that the hospital in the first case used a generic drug and in the second case used a brand name.

Justice? Go figure.

Keep safe!

Mike Bersani
Email me at: bersani@mbk-law.com I’d love to hear from you!

Michael G. Bersani, Esq.

mbk-law.com
Central NY Personal Injury Lawyer
Michaels Bersani Kalabanka

1-315-253-3293

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