One of the products you hope will never cause you more harm than it does help is a medication prescribed by a doctor. Despite careful monitoring and precise development, there are times when medications are dangerous to consumers.

Drug recalls are used to bring medications that have been sold back into pharmacies and hospitals so that they can be taken back to manufacturers and disposed of properly. As of April 1, 2019, some drug recalls that are current include Legacy, losartan potassium USP, which had impurities, Hospira, a sodium bicarbonate injection USP that was found to have particulate matter in the dosages and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories infusion bags with sodium chloride, since they were mislabeled.

In each of these cases, patients may or may not have life-threatening side effects from the use of these products. The more important thing to note is that they have been recalled and should not be used by patients or their providers under any conditions.

Each drug recall falls under one of three classes. Class I could cause death or serious health problems while Class II and III are less serious. The public is generally notified of these recalls through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at FDA.gov or through the news. Public notifications are not as common as you may think, but when they are made, it’s because there is a high potential for many people to be impacted by the defects.

If a drug defect causes you or a loved one injuries or results in a death, know that you can report it and seek compensation.