Learned Intermediary Doctrine
The rule that a manufacturer's duty to warn runs to the prescribing physician, not the patient.
Adopted in most states for prescription drugs and devices, the doctrine makes the adequacy of the physician's warning the operative question and injects an individualised issue — what this prescriber knew and would have done — into every claim. Direct-to-consumer advertising exceptions have been recognised in a minority of jurisdictions.
See also
Published for legal professionals. Analysis and summaries only — not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by use of this site.