Home › Practice Areas › Personal Injury › Charlotte, NC Personal Injury Attorneys › Charlotte Dangerous Drugs Accident Lawyer

Charlotte Dangerous Drugs Accident Lawyer

We trust prescription drugs and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to make us healthier, but sometimes they do the exact opposite. A dangerous drug reaction can easily cause a major health event, put someone in the hospital, cause permanent side effects, or even kill someone.

Patients who have been injured by defective drugs or dangerous reactions in North Carolina have the right to pursue compensation for all of their losses. They can work with a dangerous drug accident lawyer in Charlotte to identify all responsible parties and seek from them the maximum amount of compensation available.

Auger & Auger has provided legal representation to injury victims in the Carolinas and the Southeast for over a quarter if a century. Our Charlotte drug injury lawyers can provide experienced representation for your claim. If we are unable to secure a reasonable settlement for you, we are willing to take your case to court and try it in front of a jury. A history of past case successes shows we have the knowledge and strategies needed to stand up to insurers and big pharma companies.

If you or a loved one have been hurt by a dangerous drug — including having a major reaction, temporary disability, or permanent side effects — then you can speak with an attorney for absolutely free during an initial case review. Call (800) 559-5741 or contact us online today to schedule your free, no-obligation case review.

What Is a Dangerous Drug?

A dangerous drug is any medicine, including both prescription and over-the-counter products, that presents an unreasonable risk of harm to the user when it is used as directed. 

Some potentially dangerous drugs can be sold legally. As long as the manufacturer warns the user of possible effects and can prove no less-safe alternative exists, they have a chance at releasing their drug to the public. 

However, there are also drugs that fail to properly warn the user or whose manufacturers failed to explore less-safe alternatives. Even when a drug does issue a warning, it may be considered an inadequate warning, or a jury may rule that the drug was too dangerous and should not have been sold for public consumption.

In any situation, an adverse reaction or health event is reason enough to think that a drug might be dangerous. If you or a close family member have been harmed by taking a prescription or OTC medicine, you can explore your legal options for seeking compensation with the help of a dangerous drug accident lawyer in Charlotte.

Who Is at Fault for the Dangerous Drug?

A drug manufacturer is not always the one at fault for a dangerous drug. Other defendants in a drug-related personal injury claim can include:

• The prescribing doctor, if they failed to account for the drug’s risks
• The pharmacy retailer or distributor, if they mishandled the drug
• The pharmacist, if they made a critical mistake when filling the prescription or advising the patient on the use
• A third-party company reselling the drug under a mislabeled use

Why the FDA Can’t Protect Everyone from Dangerous Drugs

Many people incorrectly think that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) automatically catches all unreasonably dangerous drugs and prevents them from being sold. 

Unfortunately, the evidence needed to prove a drug is safe can be a low bar to clear. A drug manufacturer may have proven that the drug is safe in one group that is not representative of the general public. They may also have proven that the drug is safe under lab-controlled conditions, without regard for outside factors like drug interactions.

Dangerous Drug Laws in Charlotte, North Carolina

North Carolina has more protections for drug manufacturers than most states. These protections mean that you and your attorney will have to work hard to satisfy the minimum level of proof that your injury deserves compensation.

Dangerous drugs fall under the legal umbrella of a “defective product.” In North Carolina, an injured patient must be able to prove that someone who made the drug (or made it available to them) was negligent.

Negligence, in the broad legal sense, means you are able to prove four things:

• Duty of Care: The defendant had a duty of care to prevent an unreasonable risk of harm to the plaintiff, either under law or by exercising “ordinary care” as a “reasonable person” would

• Breach: The defendant breached their duty of care.

• Proximate Cause: The breach in the defendant’s duty of care directly caused harm to the plaintiff

• Damages: The harm caused to the plaintiff led to losses that can be recovered through the legal system. This includes both financial losses, like hospital bills, and non-financial losses, like mental anguish.

In the case of dangerous drugs, a defendant’s breach in their duty of care usually means that they either:

• Failed to adequately warn the user of the drug’s risks (N.C.G.S. § 99B-5)
• Deceived regulatory bodies when submitting the drug for approval
• Generally allowed the release of a product they knew or should have known would cause unreasonable risk of harm (N.C.G.S. § 99B-4)

Importantly, the injured plaintiff must have been someone the drug manufacturer expected to take the drug. The plaintiff must also have been using the drug as directed. 

In some instances, if the drug were altered somehow, such as by mishandling in the retail pharmacy setting, then the drug manufacturer cannot be held liable for that alteration’s risks. In these cases, the retail pharmacy or their pharmaceuticals distributor will be the defendant.

There are many other dangerous drug laws in North Carolina that you can discuss with an experienced drug injury lawyer, but the most important one is this: North Carolina has a statute of repose of six years from the sale or provision date. This means injured patients have a limited amount of time to pursue their case.

Talk to a Dangerous Drug Accident Lawyer in Charlotte

You and your family deserve to know your legal options when someone has been hurt by a dangerous drug. 

Drug companies have powerful lawyers, as do the insurance companies that represent them. Without an experienced legal representative, you may be scared into accepting an unfairly low settlement or withdrawing your claim entirely. Only a lawyer experienced with product liability cases in North Carolina can tell you for sure whether your case has a fighting chance of resulting in compensation.

Schedule a free consultation with a North Carolina defective drug attorney today when you call (855) 971-0559 or contact us online.