All consumer products, whether it’s food, vehicles and their components, household products, and pharmaceutical medications, are supposed to be thoroughly tested and proven to be safe. And while most products that are sold to consumers meet all safety criteria, some don’t—including potentially life-saving prescription drugs.
When medications are defective, patients can experience severe side effects and complications. Unfortunately, patients aren’t always aware of recalls until weeks or months after they occur, especially if they receive large amounts of pills or tablets and don’t need refills for long periods of time.
While your doctor or pharmacist should contact you when a drug recall occurs, that may not always happen in a timely fashion or at all. Thankfully, there’s an easy way for people to keep tabs on the status of prescription medications: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s drug recall database.
In addition to listing the dates, names, and reasons of recently recalled medications, the database also includes a search function. That makes it easy to look up any medications you’re taking to determine if they may pose an unnecessary risk to your health.
If you find out that any medications you’re taking are recalled, never stop taking them without first speaking to your doctor. Many recalls are issued due to minor problems with labels or packaging, and even more serious recalls should be handled carefully under your doctor’s supervision.
At Lowell Stanley Injury Lawyers, our Virginia drug injury attorneys work hard to help people who were harmed by dangerous drugs. If you or someone you love had a bad outcome after taking a recalled medication, contact us today for a free consultation.
