The victory by a plaintiff in his Levaquin lawsuit against the manufacturer has brought about some very interesting details regarding the prescribing of the drug.

John Schedin was awarded over $1 million by a jury after he had experienced two ruptured Achilles tendons days after he started taking Levaquin with a steroid. The doctor who wrote the prescriptions to the man, then 76, stated that he was aware of the potential tendon issues with Levaquin, but he was not aware that there was an increased risk to the elderly population when the drug was taken in combination with a steroid.

Now Schedin has to crawl up his stairs at night in order to go bed. As for the doctor, he is mortified because of the role he played in Schedin’s disability.

The trial consisted of a lot of back-and-forth arguing as to what was known about the drug and what wasn’t. The manufacturer claimed that all of the pertinent information was made available to doctors and patients in the form of a medication guide that comes with the drug. Schedin countered that the information was so buried within the document that not many patients are going to read it, let alone doctors that are extremely busy on a daily basis.

The doctor said in his testimony that he did not remember the Levaquin representative ever mentioning tendon problems when she visited his office. The sales rep did testify that she included an information packet with the basket of free samples that she provided the doctor. She did not, however, recall whether or not she had verbally referenced the tendon issue with Levaquin.

The rep further stated that she may not have had time to mention the tendon issue to the doctor. She said that with doctors having such high caseloads, she is lucky if she is able to speak to a doctor for 30 seconds. She said speaking to a doctor that long would make her feel “lucky.”

If you have suffered serious side effects after taking the drug “Levaquin”, contact a personal injury lawyer in Bloomington, MN at TSR Injury Law for your free consultation. Ph: (612) TSR-TIME.