Less than two years ago, Daniel and Katy Moore gave their toddler son, River, a dose of strawberry-flavored Children's Tylenol for a fever. Within a half hour, River was spitting up blood. By the following day, he was dead. The Moore's Tylenol came from a batch that the company had recalled earlier in the spring. But the Moores are suing the makers of Children's Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson, partly because they feel like the warning issued about the contamination was "inadequate."
As a parent I think it's absolutely crucial that companies ensure the safety of children's medications, especially. Every medicine recall sends a chill up my spine as I scramble to remember what's in our medicine chest and when the last time I administered anything is. I don't love hearing news of lawsuits, but I'm hoping this lawsuit sends a clear message: Parents need to be able to trust children's medications.
Will it work, or will the lawsuit divert J&J's attention and resources to a fight in court? Just to put this all into context, there have been two dozen recalls of Johnson & Johnson products since 2009 and the company came under investigation after it paid another company to secretly buy up defective Motrin packets from stores. The factory that made the contaminated Tylenol (and other recalled products) has been closed down. So there's that.
Obviously at this point I know I should be Googling other companies that produce medications to see what their records look like -- but I'm afraid to look! Meanwhile, life goes on. Just yesterday I gave my son some store-brand acetaminophen for a sore neck. Store brand! Is that less safe than brand-name? Or does it matter? Dare I find out?
We parents have a lot to worry about as it is. Could we have some guaranteed safe meds? Please? Obviously we should keep an ear out for those recall announcements (frequently posted here on The Stir!) and check our own medications when we hear about them. But the burden shouldn't rest entirely on us. Nothing could ever replace the Moore's son, but I hope their lawsuit brings some closure in their lives and leads to safe meds for all of us.
Are you ever nervous about giving your child medications, or do you usually feel safe about them?
Image via mollypop/Flickr
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Comments 20
How would you expect ANYTHING to be "guaranteed safe"? This isn't Lala-land.
I dont see how they could claim that the recall was not well advertised... my daughter was around her first birthday at the time and I remember the recall, and threw out some tylenol and had a HARD time finding generics, actually had to get it from behind the counter at the pharmacy for a good lenght of time...
Anyway, my guess is that they will get a settlement outside of court.
I remember that. It was well publicised. The parent's should take some blame for this. I agree with some of the other posters.
Really Mandago? I haven't had cable in almost 10 years and I heard about it. They were willfully ignorant. They most certainly didn't deserve to lose their child, but it isn't the responsibility of Tylenol either.
i didnt know about the tylenol recall. i knew about the motrin