Plain language
Drug, device, and pharmacy claim glossary
Medication cases sit at the intersection of clinical evidence, federal regulation, state law, and product identification. These terms explain recurring concepts without implying that every reported adverse event supports a lawsuit.
Published August 23, 2026 · Last reviewed August 23, 2026
- Adverse event
- An undesirable medical occurrence after use of a product. Reporting an adverse event does not by itself establish that the product caused it.
- Brand-name drug
- The reference product approved under a new drug application. Brand and generic status can affect labeling duties and available legal theories.
- Causation
- The connection between the defendant's conduct or product and the injury. A case can fail even when conduct was careless if the available evidence does not connect that conduct to the harm claimed.
- Damages
- The losses a claim seeks to recover. Depending on the facts and governing law, these can include medical costs, lost income, future care, pain, disability, disfigurement, or loss of support.
- Defendant
- The person or organization against whom a civil claim is made. One incident can involve several possible defendants with different duties and insurance policies.
- Generic drug
- A product approved based on equivalence to a reference listed drug. Federal preemption decisions can limit some state-law warning claims involving generic manufacturers. Read the related guide.
- Learned intermediary
- A doctrine used in many states under which a manufacturer's warning duty may run through the prescribing clinician rather than directly to the patient.
- Liability
- Legal responsibility for an injury. Liability depends on the applicable law and provable facts, not simply on whether someone was hurt.
- Medication error
- A preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the product is under the control of a provider, patient, or consumer.
- Multidistrict litigation (MDL)
- A federal procedure transferring related civil cases to one district for coordinated pretrial proceedings. An MDL is not the same as a class action. Read the related guide.
- Preemption
- The principle that federal law can displace a conflicting state-law claim. Its application depends on the product, claim theory, regulatory history, and controlling precedent.
- Specific causation
- The question whether the product caused the particular person's injury, as distinct from whether the product is capable of causing that type of injury generally. Read the related guide.
- Statute of limitations
- A law that limits the time for filing a claim. The deadline varies by state, claim type, defendant, and sometimes the date the injury was or could reasonably have been discovered.
Terms are not conclusions
A definition explains a concept; it does not establish that the concept applies to a particular event. State law, contracts, medical records, product identity, insurance language, and other facts can change the analysis.
Keep researching
See all resourcesEvidence checklist
The records, objects, photographs, and timelines worth preserving now.
Read thisPlain-language glossary
Medical, insurance, safety, and legal terms explained without the jargon.
Read thisOfficial sources
The government, court, safety, and medical sources used to check this site.
Read thisHave the terms applied to the facts
A free review can move from general definitions to the records, deadlines, defendants, and law that may matter in your situation.
Free · No obligation · About 90 seconds