Common Law Duties

The Common Law establishes duties for the different entities and personnel associated with the medical field. This includes the manufacturers of prescription drugs and medical devices, as well as the prescribing and treating physicians. Then a Georgia State Board of Pharmacy regulation establishes a duty for pharmacists.
Under the common law, manufacturers of prescription drugs and medical devices have a duty to warn physicians about side effects associated with their products, this warning can be in the form of a package insert that comes with the product; they do not have to directly warn a patient about side effects or dangers. Furthermore, if a manufacturer gives a customer a pamphlet with general information about a drug, then they are not required to disclose anything further; giving some information does not mean they have to give everything. …show more content…
Second, the doctor should warn a patient about problems that might arise from inserting a medical device into their body. Conferring these duties to the physician respects the “learned intermediary” doctrine. In essence, the physician is the intermediary between the pharmacist and the manufacturer. This is because a physician knows the patient’s medical history and propensities, so it should be left to the prescribing doctor to decide what medicine a patient should take. If pharmacists or manufacturers begin interfering with the doctor-patient relationship, then issues could arise. For example, if a pharmacist is constantly warning patients about every side effect of a drug or device, then patients will become reluctant to go to the