[neverdem]

PING

[ServesURight]

"but it's ridiculous that the government is filing legal briefs on the side of drug companies when it's supposed to be protecting the public.

Uh, lady, the evil Bush administration is protecting the public - from zealots trying to sue the drug companies into bankruptcy.

[rwfromkansas]

What is the shift...didn't want to wade through all that crap to get to it...

[CrintonSox]

The administration contends that consumers cannot recover damages for such injuries if the products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration

Uh, who protected the tobacco companies when everybody and their brother started suing...including several states. The only people to benefit were the scumbag layers...

[DoughtyOne]

This is NOT the way to resolve the issue of tort reform.  While I sympathize with the medical industry, I am employed by it, the way to tackle this is to limit attorney's fees, not simply do away with the public's right to justifiable recourse.

Is there a one of us who can say that John Edwards should have been able to make $50 million dollars off the misfortune of the public?  Take the exorbitant profit out of litigation (for attorneys), and you'll see a lot less frivolous law suits.

If we can still get doctors to go to school for a decade including internships, for $80k per year, there's no reason in the world that attornies need to make $50 million in order to protect the public.

I would also favor a capitation of one half million dollars per plaintiff, as long as any maintenance fees for related medical care was covered in total on top of that.

Let's review a case that I am aware of.  One pharmaceutical company applied for FDA approval to market it's product in the U.S.  The product was already being marketed in Europe.  That being the case, the FDA reviewed the submitted documentation and the approval sailed through.  Thirteen months later, the product was abruptly taken off the market.  Subsequently, it was found that serious problems had been manifested in patients in Europe, before U.S. approval.

During the 13 or so months the product was on the market in the U.S., $110 million dollars worth was sold.  The FDA fined this pharmaceutical firm $30 million dollars.  Through a loopehole, that fee was later rescinded.  The fine was never levied.  Serious damage was done to patients.

Can the government tell me that these patients should have been prevented from recourse?  That would be absurd.

It would also be absurd to think this pharmaceutical company shouldn't be put on probation for something like this, and executives prosecuted resulting in long prison terms for them.

[LadyPilgrim]

sI agree with the Bush administration on this also.

Some time back, I had a bladder infection. I don't have any medical problems, and I don't take any meds at all. So when I was given an antibiotic, I did not want it, but the infection was very bad, so I took it.

The thing like to have killed me!

I did not realize it was the medication until after I had taken up the first set and had just taken the second pill in the second set. It almost put me in the hospital again.
I have not been this sick in forever!

The antibiotic is Nitrofurantn and Nitrofur Mac.
My Dr. said these were "the big guns" in antibiotics for bladder infection.
The furantn was for 14 days and the mac was a very low dose to take when I felt the infection returning.

These two are in the same family, and is a NO-NO for me.
I suffered terrible complications with both of these.
To these, I am highly alergic.

But there is no reason for me to sue anyone.
I just won't ever take them again.

I am glad that the administration is taking some effort towards the John Edwards, let's sue everybody, kind of people!

[adam_az]

Kimberley K. Witczakof Minneapolis said her husband, Timothy, 37, committed suicide last year after taking the antidepressant drug Zoloft for five weeks. "I do not believe in frivolous lawsuits," Ms. Witczak said, "but it's ridiculous that the government is filing legal briefs on the side of drug companies when it's supposed to be protecting the public. My husband would be alive today if he had received adequate warnings about the risk of self-harm." Ms. Witczak sued Pfizer, the maker of Zoloft, in May. The government has not intervened in her case.

So he was depressed, took some meds, and then killed himself. Her assumption is that the Zoloft made him kill himself. Of course, he was already depressed... and depressed people tend to do things like commit suicide. So another possibility is that the drug didn't cure him in 5 weeks. Now, what is she suing for, exactly?

Maybe he offed himself to get away from her? Who knows.

[montag813]

The administration contends that consumers cannot recover damages for such injuries if the products have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration

How about only letting them sue the FDA/Government itself! IT is hard to imagine the trial lawyers convincing juries of how evil the government is, when they give $10 million every 2 years to the DNC to make the same government as large as possible.

[Southack]

Bush Rocks!

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[valkyrieanne]

Yes, everyone hates the tort system until *their* wife or child or themselves are damaged by an incompetent doctor.

The business about "the FDA approved it, so it must be safe" is B.S. Drugs are prescribed for uses other than what they were originally tested for *all the time.* Also, individuals are different - not everyone is going to react to drugs in the same way, and we *pay* physicians for their knowledge to prescribe and do procedures. If we could all be our own doctors, we wouldn't need them.

The tort system exists to protect the average person. It's an ancient Anglo-Saxon legal idea that doesn't deserve to be destroyed because of greedy opportunists.

[RasterMaster]

Perhaps we wouldn't need reforms, but too many folks looking for a "quick fix" to whatever ails them, and even resort to purchasing the equivelent of snake oil or a placebo and then bitch about consequences. All too many ambulance chasers out there looking to line their pockets well.

That's the only reason that all these ads for "wonder drugs" never go away. Too many fools out there buying the $hit up. Putting your faith 100% in doctors or lawyers is a risky business. That's how there came to be terms like "SHYSTER" and "QUACK".

[FormerACLUmember]

I still love the idea that physicians and other health care workers simply practice a common-sense defense against frivolous lawsuits: Absolutely refuse to see disgusting, obnoxious lawyers or their families.

[Brandon]

The Law of Unintended Consequences is going to come back and bite the government in the *ss on this one. Can't hold the manufacturer liable if their FDA-approved product hurt you? Then (the reasoning will go) the FDA must have been wrong, and that's where the liability will be alleged to reside.

[Lancey Howard]

Kimberley K. Witczak said her husband, Timothy, 37, committed suicide last year after taking the antidepressant drug Zoloft for five weeks. "I do not believe in frivolous lawsuits," Ms. Witczak said, "but it's ridiculous that the government is filing legal briefs on the side of drug companies when it's supposed to be protecting the public. My husband would be alive today if he had received adequate warnings about the risk of self-harm."

Umm... If the husband was depressed (aka suicidal) enough to take an anti-depressant drug, then he was depressed enough to harm himself, no? So, if anything, sue because the drug didn't work, but don't sue claiming that the drug caused the suicide. I mean, duh.

[Dante3]

This should get Bush quite a few votes if enacted.