When you buy a pharmaceutical product, you trust that the manufacturing and processing procedures are up to standard, meaning that the final product fits human consumption. Moreover, as a consumer, the product manufacturer owes a duty of care to ensure that all retail items do not pose health risks to users, regardless of its specificity.
As a result, if you or a loved one suffered from severe health complications after using a medical product, you have a right to seek compensation for the damages and losses sustained. Additionally, your civil suit will encompass all the details related to your case to provide a reference point for aggrieved persons in the future.
While seeking legal redress for the harm you face after consuming a defective medical product may seem straightforward, it is always advisable to obtain all the necessary legal information beforehand. Doing so allows you to understand the course of action that works best as you aim to receive rightful compensation.
It is also essential to consider approaching a team of well-experienced attorneys specializing in defective product lawsuits. With the help of a reliable legal team, you will have a smoother time coming to court and joining a mass tort civil suit against the product manufacturers.
At Consumer Alert Now, we give you access to detailed and comprehensive information concerning defective products. We cover different types of civil suits involving recalled medical products, among other items, to help our clients prepare for a mass tort suit. With our services available throughout the country, you can count on us to provide support regardless of location.
Understanding the History of PharmaTech LLC Products
Pharmatech LLC was a pharmaceutical company that manufactured medical products for sale over the counter. The company's head location was in Davie, South Florida, where most essential operations ran.
Pharmatech has created several liquid solutions for oral administration over the years to help with indigestion or solid waste retention in the human alimentary canal.
Therefore, the best-selling product was a stool softener oral solution that incorporated Sodium in the physiological operations for effectiveness. The liquid solutions mainly targeted younger children who suffer from severe digestive problems at the early stages of life, including infants under one year.
Pharmatech also partnered with different companies to undertake the distribution of the oral solution under other brand names. Some of the listed distributors include Rugby Laboratories acting on behalf of Harvard Drug Group, Leader Brand, and Major Pharmaceuticals.
Since the mentioned companies had licensed agreements with PharmaTech LLC, they could distribute the docusate sodium-based oral solution under different brands and labeling for shared profits with the leading company.
Therefore, you may purchase an oral solution under a different brand name but still be linked to PharmaTech LLC. Common types of products and brand names for the various oral solutions available include:
- Doctor syrup
- Fer-Iron liquid
- Poly Vita drops
- D3 Vitamin liquid
- Cerovite liquid
- Trivia drops
The Defects Associated With PharmaTech LLC Products
Most of the distribution products should have been useful in stool softening and eradication of irritable bowel movements. For example, oral solutions were available for persons receiving in-patient services to alleviate bowel discomfort before or after surgery.
However, several cases have arisen, pointing out the PharmaTech products’ defects that caused severe health complications for the users. The problem occurred from contamination that affected the oral solution formulation, leading to exposure to consumers’ docusate oral solution’s consumers.
After investigations pushed for in-depth research on the company's mode of operation, findings presented the existence of a bacteria called Burkholderia cepacia. The contaminant bacteria poses serious health risks to humans, primarily because it is resistant to antibiotics and causes infections quickly.
When research revealed B. cepacia in oral sodium solutions, most aggrieved parties could prepare for civil claims that could prove PharmaTech's negligence in product manufacture.
Moreover, findings revealed that the contaminant bacteria were also present in manufacturing laboratories’ water system. Consequently, there was a high risk of contamination to every manufactured product in the laboratories, leading to drastic measures.
The claims brought forth have accused PharmaTech LLC of producing contaminated products that are mostly available for young children's consumption. The outcomes of using the contaminated products have also raised several wrongful death claims, whereby aggrieved parties succumbed to the infections and complications that B. cepacia causes.
In 2016 and early 2017, most distributing companies associated with PharmaTech LLC began a call back on all oral solution products that had caused severe medical problems to the users. Since the products were widely available in wholesale and hospitals, the recall occurred too late for some product users who had already suffered from product defects.
Commonly Reported Health Complications After Using PharmaTech LLC Products
The Burkholderia cepacia bacteria are dangerous to the human body, affecting different delicate organs, leading to severe infection rates. Since the bacteria is waterborne, it can survive long in distributed oral solutions that include other young children’s brands.
Consequently, the bacteria can take a toll on younger consumers than older people because of their relatively weaker immunity and past exposure to pathogens. The standard health conditions associated with PharmaTech contaminated products are:
Severe Lung Infections
When the bacteria enters your body, it travels along the gut and may branch into your lungs. On the other hand, your body's immune system functions to fight off disease-causing bacteria like the Burkholderia microbes using white blood cells as the inhibitors and attackers of bacteria.
As your body's white blood cells prevent further distribution of the bacteria in your lungs, the dead white blood cells will accumulate and cause pus in the positively affected area. As a result, you may experience colored phlegm that indicated a looming lung infection.
Moreover, your body also tries to protect itself from harmful bacteria by filling up cell tissue with chemicals that should fight off the bacteria. Subsequently, the chemical causes inflammation in the affected areas, leading to enhanced infections that can also cause severe lung pain.
Also, your child may experience cystic fibrosis, primarily if the condition is genetic in your family. Once the bacteria attacks the lungs, the production of pus and excessive mucus makes it difficult for the patient to breathe properly.
The congestion in the lungs could also result in other conditions, including headaches and fevers that may last for hours or days at intervals. In some cases, cystic fibrosis can affect the exocrine system that helps vital secret fluids in different parts of the body. In this case, the ducts that should direct secretions to the areas of use may be blocked, meaning that the fluids will not reach the places as they should.
Complications in Congenital Heart Disease
Additionally, if a child was dealing with a congenital heart condition, the situation may become significantly worse after contamination with Burkholderia cepacia from PharmaTech LLC products. Different heart conditions may occur at birth or when the child is developing in the womb, creating a delicate and safe treatment for the disease.
Thus, when the bacteria affect tissues around the heart, the child may suffer from severe complications, including heart palpitations or irregular heartbeat. Also, if the bacteria contaminates the heart valves and chambers, they may undergo inflammation.
In the adverse situation, the child will experience pain and discomfort from the conditions and may even succumb to the heart infection. The mortality rate will depend on the type of disease a child lived with before the bacteria interfered with regular operations.
However, most cases have revealed minimal survival chances when the contaminant affects children with congenital heart problems, as the situation is delicate enough before introducing additional elements.
Increased Risk of Lung Disease
Further, children who consumed the various docusate sodium solutions also faced an enhanced risk of facing lung disease. Like with other conditions, lung disease is likely to arise after the bacteria affects the alveoli(air sacs) that make up the lungs.
Different ways for the bacteria to cause complications include the accumulation of pus in the air sacs, leaving little room for oxygen and carbon dioxide to move in and out the lungs during the breathing process. Consequently, the victim may experience difficulties in taking in and releasing breath that causes faster-breathing intervals.
Apart from affecting the lungs, breathing difficulties may also significantly reduce the amount of oxygen your brain receives. Hence, you may experience headaches for longer, dizziness, and blurred vision as symptoms of an underlying lung condition.
Moreover, lung disease may also arise where the bacteria cause further contamination in the lung system, leading to live cells’ death in your alveoli. As the number of healthy cells decreases, your body will not undertake normal functions as before, primarily because bacteria’s contamination may continue long after initial contact.
Hence, you will experience coughing blood, pain in the lungs, and excessive mucus and phlegm formation. Since lung disease has a close relation to infection, you may also experience additional symptoms related to a condition like fever, dizziness, and headaches.
Filing a Suit Against PharmaTech LLC Defective Products
When you or a loved one experienced the adverse effects of PharmaTech products, you will need to file a civil suit to seek rightful compensation for the harm you experience. The company has received numerous complaints on their oral solutions, meaning that you will likely join a mass tort suit against the manufacturers.
If your legal advisor recommends seeking compensation under a mass tort suit, you will need to consider several factors. The analysis and understanding of the information are necessary to find a suitable fit for your case, as you can check whether you qualify for the mass tort. Several factors to consider before joining a mass tort include:
Ensure that Your Claim Matches Others' Grievances Against PharmaTech LLC
The primary element to consider when choosing a mass tort suit for a defective medical pr, the primary element to consideroduct is to ensure that all your grievances are for the same product type. The requirement helps the claimant organize themselves based on the specifics of the defective product in question, as the rules of mass torts dictate.
For example, PharmaTech LLC had licensed the sale and distribution of its docusate sodium oral solution to different companies. However, since they are the mother company responsible for formulating manufacturing guidelines, you can join a mass tort suit regardless of the sodium solution brand registered under PharmaTech LLC.
Hence, your lawyer will help you distinguish whether the product in question falls within the specified class to avoid suit applications based on a difference in outcomes. However, in different cases, the judge may choose to preside over a mass tort suit dealing with a sodium oral solution’s specific brand.
For example, you may only qualify to join a mass tort suit if your grievances arise from consuming Trivita drops. Nevertheless, the joining criteria for aggrieved parties seeking inclusion in the mass tort will be available early enough to help you determine whether you fall in the correct group.
Ensure that the Facts and Issues in Your Case are Similar to Other Plaintiffs
Additionally, it is essential to determine whether the facts and issues you intend to present in your civil suit align with the mass tort suit. In this case, the underlying problem will be to bring forth complaints of product defects that caused severe health risks or complications for your loved ones.
Therefore, it would be unwarranted for you to include facts and issues concerning the price you paid for the oral solution, demanding a refund for the price overcharge. While the complaint is valid in other circumstances, it will be irrelevant to the matter at hand, meaning that the judge may dismiss your claims.
Similarly, your lawyer will advise you against presenting facts and issues that include late delivery of the products or reception of expired products that you did not consume orcaused adverse effects. The rationale behind these restrictions is to avoid a long mass tort suit, whereby the judge will have to listen to different facts and issues and determine them separately.
Since the goal in holding the mass tort case is to reach a legal standing as soon as possible for the affected parties, including issues that deviate from the subject matter will be detrimental for other plaintiffs involved in the case.
The Mass Tort Cases are Interdependent
Moreover, you need to understand that your mass tort suit’s success depends on the existing integration between all aggrieved parties. Thus, your lawyer focuses on helping create meetings and other discussion forums where you and other plaintiffs can air their complaints openly and informally.
The forums help strengthen the bonds between the aggrieved parties, as you will need each other's support throughout the case trial. Additionally, discussing the different outcomes for the people affected by PharmaTech LLC products also provides a great platform to discuss several issues that were not available for all parties.
For example, suppose you were unaware of future complications tied to the Burkholderia cepacia bacteria in the sodium oral solutions. In that case, you can take the necessary steps in seeking justice for health complications. Also, discussions with other plaintiffs secure an interdependence in court, whereby you will benefit from the available support of other aggrieved parties during the proceedings in answering general questions about the defective products.
PharmaTech LLC is Answerable for all Grievances Tried Together
Additionally, it is essential to understand that the judge will assess all your grievances at the same trial. However, you have the chance to testify on your behalf and provide evidence on your facts in a mass tort. Thus, you and your product liability lawyer should develop an elaborate strategy that promotes effectiveness in presenting all the required proof for your case.
Moreover, PharmaTech LLC will be the first respondent in your matter, meaning that the company is answerable to all your grievances. If the mass tort also includes other parties as second and third respondents, your lawyer should check on each party's involvement in the product liability and losses you incurred.
A Mass Tort Civil Suits Operates on High Standards of Proof
Law maxims dictate that anyone who alleges must prove. As a result, claimants in the civil law division bear the burden of proof to show that the respondent was liable for the alleged faults that caused losses and damage.
The burden of proof in a civil lawsuit is based on probabilities, meaning that the judge may favor either side based on the convincing nature of proof. Since your primary goal is to receive rightful compensation for the harm you suffered after using PharmaTech LLC products, you want to obtain compelling evidence from credible sources that prove your plight.
The best preparations for your case should begin early enough to provide sufficient time for your lawyer to follow up on original documents, medical reports, and witness statements. You also need to transfer all the collected evidence to the officer coordinating the mass tort civil suit on time to avoid admissibility issues. This way, you will know the expectations that courts hold against a complainant and deliver the requirements to your advantage.
Claims to Include in Your Mass Tort Civil Suit
When your matter is ready to proceed to trial along with other aggrieved plaintiffs, your lawyer's next step is to draft submissions and demand a letter to the defendant. The documents should include the types of claims you intend to bring forth, along with the compensation you will ask for upon trial conclusion. Some requests to include are for:
Product Liability
Product liability is mostly a strict liability tort that may hold the defendant liable despite his/her efforts to take positive steps in reducing losses. Thus, if the matter proceeds under strict liability, you will not necessarily have to prove that PharmaTech LLC was at fault or maliciously released contaminated products to the market.
Instead, you will only have to prove that you or a loved one suffered losses, including wrongful death, after using specific PharmaTech liquid solutions. When your lawyer succeeds in providing sufficient evidence in strict liability, your mass tort suit may result in promising outcomes.
Involvement in Gross Negligence
Alternatively, you may choose to bring a mass tort claim in negligence against PharmaTech LLC. The claim is common in most tort civil suits, as it encompasses the breach of a duty of care and the occurrence of damages from the breach. Moreover, gross negligence places total liability on the defendant based on the lack of proper consideration and actions towards manufacturing a standard product.
When working on negligence claims, you will need to prove that the manufacturing company engaged in all four negligence elements. They are:
- The existence of a duty of care to all parties who are likely to consume their products
- A breach of the duty of care arose by conducting operations carelessly.
- Causation and proximity of your damages to the breach of duty
- Proof of the damages you suffered
Contact a Mass Torr Lawyer Near Me
When a medical product available for retail becomes dangerous to humans, aggrieved parties must seek compensation. Additionally, the company should take responsibility for young children’s wrongful death who suffer from adverse conditions from the contaminated liquid solutions.
However, organizing and following up on a mass tort civil suit is not easy, based on the required work. Therefore, we recommend reaching out to a legal professional who can elaborate on the circumstances and requirements you must fulfill before joining the mass tort suit.
Obtaining the necessary information from Consumer Alert Now is an excellent step in seeking justice for the wrongful death and financial losses you suffer after using PharmaTech LLC products. With our help, you will receive support for your case, thanks to our team available throughout the country. If you need help with joining a mass tort for defective PharmaTech LLC products, call us today at 800-511-0747.
