萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan recently passed amendments to the Drug Hazard Relief Act, and in the future, if a drug is prescribed according to medical principles, the drug user can apply for relief if he suffers any injury even where the drug used is not intended to treat the patient’s condition.

In the event that a patient suffers injury resultant from the use of a particular medication, he can request the Drug Hazard Relief Review Committee to review his case. If the Committee finds that the injury is caused by an adverse reaction to the drug, the patient will be granted a certain amount of relief. Before this amendment, there was no relief available to a patient who suffered injury from use of a drug for his condition where that drug was not indicated on the instructions for that drug to treat the patient’s condition.

According to statistics provided by the Drug Hazard Relief Foundation, from the enactment of the Drug Hazard Relief Act in 1999, there have been a total of 1,464 applications regarding adverse reactions to prescribed medications reviewed. Among these, 30% of the 613 applications refused involved the use of a drug to treat a condition for which the drug was not intended.

With the enactment of the Amendment, patients can now seek relief for injuries caused by the use of a drug even where the drug is not intended to treat the patient’s condition. According to Legislator Sue-Ying Huang, who proposed the Amendment, this change in law will make it safer for patients to use prescribed medications.