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Physician's Duty to Warn of Drug Risks

Physician's Duty to Warn of Drug Risks

Before prescribing a drug for a patient, a physician has the duty to warn the patient of the risks associated with the drug. If a physician fails to warn the patient about the drug's risks, the physician can be held liable for malpractice if the patient suffers harm as a result of taking the drug. However, sometimes a drug has risks that occur very rarely. Is a physician responsible for conveying every possible risk of taking a particular drug to a patient? What if a patient's lifestyle increases the potential for an adverse drug reaction? Is the physician responsible for inquiring into a patient's habits to determine whether the patient is at an increased risk for suffering from an adverse drug reaction?

Physicians learn of a drug's risks from the drug manufacturer. The physician is responsible for reading drug information prior to prescribing it for a patient so that that physician is aware of a drug's risks. In addition, physicians are required to take into consideration each patient's health history and lifestyle habits in deciding whether the risks associated with a drug are too great for that patient. Physicians are also required to keep abreast of literature concerning drugs the physician prescribes so that he can order a patient to cease taking a drug if a risk from the drug becomes too great.

Whether a physician can be held liable in malpractice for prescribing a drug that results in an injury to a patient depends on whether the physician deviated from the standard of care. Thus, if the physician failed to act as a reasonable physician in prescribing the drug, he or she may be held liable. In addition to proving that a physician breached his or her duty of care to a plaintiff, the plaintiff must prove that the breach was the cause of the plaintiff's injuries. Consequently, to prove that the failure to warn of the risk caused the injury, a plaintiff would have to show that he or she would not have taken the drug if the physician had warned the plaintiff of the risk that materialized. In cases in which the drug at issue is the only drug available to treat a plaintiff's condition, it is difficult for a plaintiff to show that he or she would not have taken the drug.

In an action against a physician alleging failure to warn of a drug's risks, the drug information provided by the manufacturer to the physician is crucial evidence. The jury must determine whether a reasonably prudent physician would have determined that a risk identified in the drug information should have been conveyed to a patient. In general, expert testimony would be required to establish the standard of care and whether the physician breached that standard.

Copyright 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.