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Drug companies fail to warn consumers

Drug products are often blind items for consumers. They depend on their doctors for advice. The doctor has prescribed this drug for similarly situated people with success and one hopes that the doctor has kept abreast of the current literature and read the inserts in the packaging. No such protection exists for the parent who purchases a product over the counter for their child. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the manufacturer to make sure that in a prominent spot on the black insert portion of the box which contains the warning, it is necessary that the parent be alerted if there is a substantial difference between one product and another. Our staff and the experts we have consulted have been struck by the fact that when a symptom appears, the parents naturally will give more of the Motrin drug because they are assuming that the symptoms that appear such as redness, blistering or itching, rash-like symptoms, that they are just another manifestation of the flu. So, therefore, many of our parents unwittingly administer second dosages, third dosages, at a time when the allergic reaction leading towards Stevens-Johnson syndrome is manifesting itself. We have heard of instances in which the child is brought to the emergency room and the first thing that is done there is that Motrin is given and the process is exacerbated and continues. This is unforgivable precisely because the warnings are not sufficient, are not inclusive enough, and are not specific enough. Including these warnings would give information to the parents or the medical providers that if these specific symptoms arise: redness, rash, or blistering appears, stop, discontinue use immediately. One should also consult your physician because a serious, life-threatening illness such as Stevens-Johnson disease, which can involve blindness and death, could be beginning. Because that warning was not put in place until 2005, there are still packages sitting in medicine cabinets all around America. These products include Motrin and Advil, which do not have the proper warning. Mothers and fathers still might not know about the serious risks posed by Motrin or Advil of Stevens-Johnson syndrome. At the same time that warnings were on European products in Germany and Canadian products, there was not a similar warning on Motrin for children in the United States. Tell me, what makes U.S. children less worthy of a warning than their European and Canadian counterparts? I would like to hear the manufacturer answer that question.

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