Illinois Personal Injury Lawyers Find out Duragesic Patches Are Killing More Than Just Pain
Up to one hundred times more potent than morphine, fentanyl patches have already caused hundreds of deaths. If you or a loved one have been injured or experienced severe side effects due to a pain relieving patch, please contact a Chicago personal injury attorney immediately.
Duragesic is the trade name of a “fentanyl transdermal therapeutic system” which is a pain relieving patch that delivers powerful drugs (fentanyl) through the skin over several days. It is manufactured by ALZA Corporation and marketed by Janssen Pharmaceutica (both subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson).
Considered an opioid pain medication, fentanyl is typically used to treat severe intractable pain (such as cancer pain). However, doctors have become far more likely to prescribe it for less serious afflictions such as migraines, surgical pain and back pain.
Since Duragesic patches release fentanyl slowly through the skin, one patch can provide 72 hours of pain relief. Unfortunately, a design flaw has caused some patches to leak fentanyl into the body faster than the body can absorb it, prompting the FDA to launch an investigation of over 120 deaths assoicated with the patch.
While you may not have heard much about it on the news recently, patients continue to suffer frightening and potentially deadly side effects from overdose of this powerful and highly addictive narcotic in and around Illinois. Personal injury lawyers are forced to step in when patients are harmed by this product.
In Chicago, personal injury attorneys warn health care professionals who prescribe the fentanyl skin patch and patients who use the fentanyl skin patch and their caregivers should be aware of the following signs of fentanyl overdose:
- Trouble breathing or shallow breathing
- Tiredness, extreme sleepiness or sedation
- Inability to think, talk or walk normally
- Feeling faint, dizzy or confused
If these signs occur, patients or their caregivers should get medical attention right away
If you or a loved one have experienced any of these potentially lethal side effects from the Duragesic Patch please contact an Illinois personal injury lawyer immediately.
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