A district court ruled Monday a pharmaceutical company has no legal responsibility for a patient who became blind after taking cold medicine made by the company.
Seoul Central District Court ruled against the customer, surnamed Kim, who claimed compensation from the company for her blindness that she claimed was caused by side effects of the medicine.
In 2010, Kim bought the firm’s cold medicine containing acetaminophen, a pain killing and fever reducing substance, and dosed herself with it to gain relief from a cold.
Experiencing no improvement against the symptoms and suffering from a swollen face, she visited a local clinic and was prescribed with other medicine.
However, the cold symptoms did not improve and she suffered from other side effects such as rashes and itches.
After visiting a teaching hospital, Kim found that she had Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS).
SJS is a form of a life-threatening skin condition, in which cell death causes the epidermis to separate from the dermis. The fatality rate of the syndrome is 40 percent and the main known cause of it are certain medications.
Kim managed to survive but she lost her eyesight even though she underwent more than 10 eye surgeries.
Kim filed suits against the pharmaceutical firm, the pharmacist who sold her the medicine and the local clinic, demanding compensation that though acetaminophen can cause SJS, the firm’s medicine had no warning of possible SJS occurrence.
Siding with the firm, however, the court said in its ruling that: “Since there are over 100 medications which can cause SJS, and Kim had taken other medicines from the local clinic, it is difficult to posit the firm’s medicine solely caused Kim’s disease.”
“Though the medicine had no direct mention for SJS, its instruction leaflet stated that if one sustains high fever or rash, one should stop taking the medicine immediately and consult with a doctor. Thus, it is difficult to hold that the firm liable,” it added.
