Just suffering a severe side effect is almost never enough to justify filing a defective drug lawsuit. First, drug makers protect themselves from legal claims by listing potential problems for patients in product labeling. Beyond that, it is not always clear that a health problem or death can be blamed on using a medication.
Grounds for a defective drug lawsuit in Virginia exist only when one of the following things is true:
- A patient or a patient’s family member can show that the drug maker knew or should have known that a risk existed and failed to warn anyone about that risk; or
- A patient or family member can show that harmful errors were made during the manufacturing process.
EJL