Pharmacists' Duty to Warn: A Nationwide Survey
March 28, 2006
The majority of courts to have considered the issue hold that pharmacists have no general duty to warn, no matter the theory of recovery alleged. Rather, drug manufacturers must disclose product warnings to physicians, who must then pass on those warnings to their patients. The rationale for exempting pharmacists from this obligation is the so-called “learned intermediary doctrine,” which recognizes that physicians are in a better position to assess the risks and benefits of a particular course of treatment.
Pharmacists' Duty to Warn
