Saray Perez V. Wyeth Laboratories Inc. Case

Week 5 Problem-Solution Analysis Paper

MGT 623

The learned intermediary rule, first introduced in 1966, states that a pharmaceutical manufacturer shall give adequate warnings regarding a drug’s potential risks to the physician prescribing the drug. It is then the duty of the physician to provide the patient with enough information about the drug’s potential risks when administered to the in order for the patient to make an informed choice as to whether they want to proceed with the treatment. There are six premises underlying the Learned Intermediary Doctrine. (1) Doctors have the requisite experience and training, and they, not the patients or the drug companies, ultimately make the decision to prescribe or not to prescribe a drug. (2) In traditional doctor-patient relationships, patients rely heavily upon the doctor’s advice and counsel concerning their health, not upon the advice of drug manufactures. (3) Courts hesitate to intervene into the doctor-patient relationship, and constrain a doctor’s independent judgment about what should or should not be prescribed to patients. (4) Drug manufacturers do not have a relationship or other effective means to communicate with the consumers because drugs are prescribed through doctors, and distributed by pharmacies. (5) Even if drug manufacturers warned consumers, the complexity of the risks and warnings would be difficult to translate into understandable risk-conveying language for the untrained consumer. (6) If manufacturers directly warn uniformed consumers, they may deter patients from taking the prescribed medicines or following their doctor’s advice. (Foreman, 2001, Web of Manipulation, page 104) The belief is that the healthcare professional is knowledgeable enough to make an educated decision as to whether or not there are significant risks with administering the drug to the patient. The healthcare professional is to assess the pros and cons of prescribing the drug based on the...