Side Effects Of Medicine Without Informed Consent

[billses]

Hi,

My mom had Grave’s Disease ( Hyperthyroidism ), her doctor prescribed her a medicine called Tapazole. After 6 weeks medication, my mom developed a serous and life threatening side effect called Neutropenia, basically, her body had no immunization ability to fight infection at that time.

We had to go to hospital and we experienced a lot of pressure, finally she was OK to go home.

Our concerns are:

1. The doctor never warned us any possible side effect of the Tapazole before or during taking medication.

2. The doctor failed to follow standard steps before prescribing the Tapazole.

I called the pharmacist from where I bought Tapazole, she told me according to the stand procedure of medical care, before patients take this medicine, doctor should do baseline blood test , including liver function test, she recommended me to ask The doctor. I asked, and the doctor did not do the liver function test.

3. Before The doctor prescribed the Tapazole, she asked my mom to do a base line blood test, at that time, the Neutrophil # was already lower than normal level ( was 1.5, normal level 2.0 – 7.5 ). I have consulted another doctor, he indicated the doctor should have noticed the base line blood test result and taken steps to monitor the white blood cell and Neutrophil # during the medication. The doctor failed to do that.

4.
The doctor canceled her previous treatment plan and refused to continue treatment to my mom without giving enough notice to find another doctor, even when my mom was in unstable and possibly dangerous situation, and that was caused by medicine side effect she prescribed.


Do I have case? Is it possible to sue the doctor and win the case? Can we ask for compensation for mental and economical loss?

Thanks

Bill

[Mr. Knowitall]

To get your case assessed, you really need to discuss it with a malpractice lawyer in your state. Malpractice laws vary by state. I am not clear how significant your mother's economic damages are, but you seem to describe the consequence of this side-effect as something that was relatively easy to medically resolve with no long-term consequence; that can mean that, even if malpractice is clear-cut, there may not be enough money that can be recovered as damages to make the case viable to litigate.

[billses]

To get your case assessed, you really need to discuss it with a malpractice lawyer in your state. Malpractice laws vary by state. I am not clear how significant your mother's economic damages are, but you seem to describe the consequence of this side-effect as something that was relatively easy to medically resolve with no long-term consequence; that can mean that, even if malpractice is clear-cut, there may not be enough money that can be recovered as damages to make the case viable to litigate.

Thanks for your reply. We are not sure if there is any long-term consequence, and economic damage is around $10,000 until now.

Any advice is appreciated.

Bill