Many people hear about drug recalls on a regular basis. For people who take medications, checking for recalls on them might be a regular event. Some individuals might not understand exactly what a medication recall means. For example, there are usually only certain batches, or lots, that are recalled.
There are several reasons why a drug might be recalled. This can be due to an issue with manufacturing or because of serious side effects that weren’t initially disclosed. It is also possible that they will be recalled due to something that will only impact a small portion of the users, but that won’t impact the safety or effectiveness for others.
When a prescription drug is recalled, there is a process that occurs to help alert impacted customers to the problem. Prescriptions that are sent to pharmacies are tracked, so pharmacies that have sold the drug can determine whether they sold any of the recalled lots. They will check the lot number, manufacturer and expiration date of the medications they have dispensed. If they sold any to patients, those patients will be contacted.
It might be impossible for you to check whether you have a recalled prescription or not because most prescriptions aren’t handed out in the original box. This means that you won’t have access to the information you need to check. In this case, a phone call to the pharmacy that fills your medication is in order if you take the drug that is recalled. Never try to suddenly stop taking the drug unless you speak to your doctor first because suddenly stopping some drugs can lead to serious side effects that might be worse than what you face if you continue taking the medication.
Because there are many issues that can come with recalled drugs, you might opt to seek compensation if you suffered negative impacts of taking medication from a recalled lot.
