Liability Resulting from the Use of Antibiotics
You wake up in the morning not feeling well, you make a quick phone call to your doctor and describe your symptoms to the staff person who answered the telephone, and within an hour, you have a prescription for antibiotics in your hand. The increased use of antibiotics in this country has been labeled "promiscuous," and it is criticized by many conscientious physicians.
Listed among the concerns arising from the use and abuse of antibiotics is the sensitization of an individual patient to a particular antibiotic so that the further use of the drug may lead to serious reactions. Use of an antibiotic can result in allergic or hypersensitive reactions to the drug, and it may cause serious disturbances of the intestinal tract by the elimination of normal and necessary beneficial bacteria needed for digestion. Infections of this type are generally successfully treated if promptly detected.
In addition, wary physicians fear that strains of microorganisms will develop a resistance to the drug, allowing it to flourish even in the presence of the antibiotic. "Staph" infections that are resistant to penicillin are a major hazard in hospitals. They have survived many generations of antibiotics and require antiseptic and aseptic techniques that are increasingly scrupulous, particularly in operating and delivery rooms.
When evaluating a claim against a physician for the improper prescription of antibiotics resulting in injury to a patient, answers to the following questions will help determine the validity and strength of the claim:
- Did the patient's complaints reasonably indicate the prescription of the drug?
- Did the doctor take the patient's history with a focus on drug allergies?
- Were there any less-risky alternatives available?
- Did the physician order the patient to discontinue using the drug without undue delay after the patient complained of an unfavorable reaction? Reactions to certain antibiotics such as penicillin can result in serious injury or death.
- Was the drug of the type that required medical follow-up or laboratory tests?
- Did the physician prescribe the proper dosage and timing of the doses?
- Were there adequate precautions taken against unfavorable reactions?
Under the requirements of informed consent, a physician should relate to the patient certain warnings and risks given to him or her by the manufacturer. However, not all of manufacturer's drug warnings must be transmitted to the patient. Courts have concluded that no disclosure is required where the potential risks are minimal when evaluated in conjunction with the disease being treated, particularly when all prudent persons would submit to treatment even if all possible risks were disclosed. Copyright 2008 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. | 
