Ever been relieved to finally get a prescription to treat something that had been nagging you, only to have a bad experience with the drug? Bad medicine is a serious problem across the country, and a hard one to solve.
The problem may not be with the drugs themselves, but with their side effects. Obviously, all medicines have side effects, and it’s unreasonable to expect that they won’t. But bad medicine has side effects that overwhelm its intended effect. In many cases, prescription drugs cause side effects that make it seemingly impossible to stop taking them.
At Christensen & Hymas, we deal with health providers and bad medicine cases all the time. Here are some of the most common problems we see.
Table of Contents
How Can I Know if I’m Taking Bad Medicine?
Trying to resolve the effects of bad medicine can be a very frustrating effort. For example, if an antidepressant seems to be helping with your depression, you may hesitate to tell a doctor that it’s causing severe headaches. Recently, patients and doctors criticized popular heartburn medications for working in a way that makes quitting them extremely difficult.
- Does the Drug Do What it’s Supposed to Do?
- This is the most important question. Sometimes, medicine simply doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.
- The “placebo effect” can make it difficult to answer this question.
- This term means that people often feel like their medicine is helping them simply because they think it’s supposed to.
- Evaluate your condition before and after taking the drug and talk about it with your doctor.
- Does the Drug Do Things it’s Not Supposed to Do?
- Negative side effects are some of the most recognizable features of bad medicine.
- Some of the worst prescription drugs available today are linked to side effects like heart failure, cancer, and birth defects.
- Talk to your doctor about any negative side effects of your medicine, even if there are positive ones as well.
- Does the Drug Cause Withdrawal Symptoms?
- In the article we referenced above, a woman discusses the difficulty she had coming off of a heartburn medication.
- There is often a terrible pattern associated with bad medicine: you take the medicine and experience negative side effects, but then experience even worse side effects when you try to stop.
- If you encounter this pattern when taking a prescription drug, talk to your doctor about getting off of it safely.
Pharmaceutical companies and research facilities are responsible for the effects of the drugs they make. Sometimes, bringing a claim or a lawsuit against them because of your bad medicine is the only way to hold them accountable.
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Can I Win a Settlement Over Bad Medicine?
Absolutely. We help our clients file and win bad medicine claims all the time.
If you experience negative side effects from prescription medication, or want to discuss any of the questions above, contact us today and receive a free consultation about your case.
Image courtesy of Max Pixel