This page within Virginia Tort Case Law is a compilation of cases reported by the Virginia Supreme Court and summarized by Brien Roche dealing with the topic of Product Liability-Drugs. For more information about product liability see the pages on Wikipedia.
Product Liability-Drugs-Statutes
See Va. Code § 54.1-3400.
See Va. Code § 54.1-3427 as to dispensing drugs without safety closure container.
See Va. Code § 54.1-3457 as to misbranded and adulterated drugs.
Product Liability-Drugs-Cases
2007 Sullivan v. Robertson Drug Co., 273 Va. 84, 639 S.E.2d 250.Physician settled medical malpractice claim and then sought contribution from pharmacist and pharmacist’s employer. The trial court erred in giving jury instructions suggesting that the pharmacist could not be found liable for the entire injury caused by the medications he had dispensed. This permitted the jury to apportion damages based on relative degrees of negligence. If separate and independent acts of negligence of two parties directly cause a single injury, then either or both wrongdoers are responsible for the whole injury. In this case, the cumulative effect of the doses of prescription medication given to the patient caused an indivisible injury. As such, if the pharmacist’s action breached the standard of care, he was liable for the whole injury to the patient.
1980 Pfizer, Inc. v. Jones, 221 Va. 681, 272 S.E.2d 43.Drug manufacturer’s duty to warn does not include duty to provide information as to possible effect, if misused.
