Medical liability doctrines

At first blush, the increased risk of harm suit against a drug manufacturer on a negligence theory that pharmacogenomics could have been used to determine the increased risks to a portion of the population appears to be a logical extension of the doctrinal shifts in liability law signaled by Moore. The likelihood of success of this particular lawsuit is in fact small because of the nature of existing medical liability doctrine in Pennsylvania. 

Traditionally, the learned intermediary doctrine, shielded drug manufacturers and pharmacists from liability by imposing on the physician the duty to explain and to warn the patient about the effects of specific medications. Courts have remained reluctant to impose a duty to warn on pharmacists dispensing prescriptions, unless... 

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