In a recent US Supreme Court case, drug companies were ruled exempt from lawsuits. I'm no lawyer, and have no desire to be one, so perhaps some of you with more legal education and experience can explain this ruling. To me, it seems completely crazy.
the ruling makes sense, in that the fda is 'supposed' to watchdog the pharma mfg. and testing. but we all know that government agencies are at best a second line of defense and can't be relied on for total safety. also. another seemingly sensible part of the decision is that the ruling only covers generic makers, which assumes that the name brand has been thoroughly tested beyond a shadow of a doubt. again, not enough protection. while we all hope gov. agencies can protect us from harm, i think the left leaning court blew this one. and so does senator leahy (d) from vt. on a good note, there are going to be a lot of unemployed lawyers in the near future.
Here is one point I think about. What if a critical vaccine has a small number of adverse effects in some individuals?
Name brand or generic, every vaccine will have some amount of adverse side effects on some individuals. Should this be grounds to sue the company out of the vaccination business?
I believe you can still sue drug companies for mistakes if the level of negligence rises to such a level as is considered intolerable or criminal in nature. If not get used to having only baby aspirin for every aliment that strikes because drug companies will be sued out of business or the cost of drugs will rise to such a level as to be unreachable. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
If we can do so for a gasoline can making company, then we have the right to do the same to any company. Anything that is put into your body has a chance of causing harm. Even food for some people. Most people can't accept when something goes wrong that it was the will of an uncaring universe though. They need to blame someone. So a generic drug company does need some protection from that. The concern I have is if this ruling will make it more difficult to seek damages in the case of manufacturing contamination or defect?
