New Massachusetts ruling may make doctors liable to anyone for risks of drug side effects and potential consequences
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
January 30, 2008
A December 10 decision by a Massachusetts court may allow for doctors to be held liable for any consequences that occur involving patients who take prescribed medications, reports American Medical News. This comes after a 75-year-old man hit and killed a 10-year-old boy with his car in 2002. The man was taking eight different medications at the time and was not warned by his doctor, Roland J. Florio, that some of the medications had the potential to make him tired and dizzy.The boy's mother fought for the right to sue the doctor prescribing the patient's medication, saying it was negligent to prescribe the medications in the first place. Florio's defense argued that he cannot control his patients' actions. However, the court ruled in favor of the boy's mother, and she can now sue him.
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