Supreme Court: Drug Companies exempt from Lawsuits

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**Ahtman**

July 7, 2013. Washington. In case readers missed it with all the coverage of the Trayvon Martin murder trial and the Supreme Court’s rulings on gay marriage and the Voting Rights Act, the US Supreme Court also made a ruling on lawsuits against drug companies for fraud, mislabeling, side effects and accidental death. From now on, 80 percent of all drugs are exempt from legal liability.

In a 5-4 vote, the US Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s ruling and award for the victim of a pharmaceutical drug’s adverse reaction. According to the victim and the state courts, the drug caused a flesh-eating side effect that left the patient permanently disfigured over most of her body. The adverse reaction was hidden by the drug maker and later forced to be included on all warning labels. But the highest court in the land ruled that the victim had no legal grounds to sue the corporation because its drugs are exempt from lawsuits.

Karen Bartlett vs. Mutual Pharmaceutical Company

In 2004, Karen Bartlett was prescribed the generic anti-inflammatory drug Sulindac, manufactured by Mutual Pharmaceutical, for her sore shoulder. Three weeks after taking the drug, Bartlett began suffering from a disease called, ‘toxic epidermal necrolysis’. The condition is extremely painful and causes the victim’s skin to peel off, exposing raw flesh in the same manner as a third degree burn victim.

Karen Bartlett sued Mutual Pharma in New Hampshire state court, arguing that the drug company included no warning about the possible side effect. A court agreed and awarded her $21 million. The FDA went on to force both Mutual, as well as the original drug manufacturer Merck & Co., to include the side effect on the two drugs’ warning labels going forward.

Now, nine years after the tragedy began, the US Supreme Court overturned the state court’s verdict and award. Justices cited the fact that all generic drugs and their manufacturers, some 80% of all drugs consumed in the United States, are exempt from liability for side effects, mislabeling or virtually any other negative reactions caused by their drugs. In short, the Court ruled that the FDA has ultimate authority over pharmaceuticals in the US. And if the FDA says a drug is safe, that takes precedent over actual facts, real victims and any and all adverse reactions.

Court ruling

The Court’s ruling a week ago on behalf of generic drug makers is actually a continuation of a ruling made by the same Court in 2011. At that time, the Justices ruled that the original inventors and manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs, also known as ‘name brand’ drugs, are the only ones that can be sued for mislabeling, fraud or adverse drug reactions and side effects. If the generic versions of the drugs are made from the exact same formula and labeled with the exact same warnings as their brand name counterparts, the generics and their manufacturers were not liable.

The Court ruled, “Because it is impossible for Mutual and other similarly situated manufacturers to comply with both state and federal law, New Hampshire's warning-based design-defect cause of action is pre-empted with respect to FDA-approved drugs sold in interstate commerce."

And that ruling flies in the face of both common sense and justice. And as Karen Bartlett can now attest, it leaves 240 million Americans unprotected from the deadly and torturous side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. As a reminder, the number one cause of preventable or accidental death in the US is pharmaceutical drugs.

Article

**Hordini**

Oh goody.

**DemetriDominov**

And the day has finally come, in the land of a pill for every ill, is the fastest and most legal way to kill.

**kronk**

I'm not a fan of this ruling.

**whembly**

Me too... seems very strange on the surface.

I need to dig deeper into the nuances of this case... probably tomorrow.

**Monster Rain**

I need to research this further before really forming an opinion.

This can't be what it looks like.

**Hordini**

Monster Rain wrote:
I need to research this further before really forming an opinion.

This can't be what it looks like.

I hope you're right.

**sebster**

I can see the point, to be honest.

I mean, it's kind of silly to insist every company that wants to manufacture a generic brand drug needs to undertake its own testing of what is, basically, an identical product. Instead it should be enough to just take the work already done by the original company and the FDA and copy that warning label.

**Monster Rain**

It seems like someone can still sue the original manufacturer of the drug though, right?

**Jihadin**

Yep. Not the generic brand makers

**Hordini**

So just to be clear, someone who takes a generic version of a drug can sue the maker of the brand name drug, even if they didn't take the brand name drug?

If that's the case, this doesn't really seem that bad.

**Monster Rain**

Yeah, it just looks like this holds the original manufacturer of a drug liable for side effects, and not the people who just copy the formula and sell it for a discount.

Unless I'm seriously missing something.

**Mr Nobody**

And this is why I only take Advil.

**Kilkrazy**

I don't see how you could sue the maker of the original drug if you suffered a reaction to a generic version. The original maker would simply say you had not taken their drug.

**dogma**

I suppose it won't be too hard to sue Merck & Co..

Oh, wait, it is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies the the world.

**KalashnikovMarine**

This screams "terrible idea"

**Monster Rain**

dogma wrote:
I suppose it won't be too hard to sue Merck & Co..

Oh, wait, it is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies the the world.

Justice is expensive!

**Somedude593**

So basically dont take any drug ever....... well back to leeches and alchemy then!

**KalashnikovMarine**

Eh if we went back to the herb lore we lost during the witch trials and Inquisition we'd not only have more effective medicine but with less side effects too, but since the fethheads with the leeches burned all that information for being connected to witch craft I suppose we're SOL.

**Monster Rain**

Dark Age herb lore is more effective than modern medicine, eh?

You have to be trolling.

**sebster**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Eh if we went back to the herb lore we lost during the witch trials and Inquisition we'd not only have more effective medicine but with less side effects too

Yeah, no. None of what you just said has anything to do with reality.

**Mr Hyena**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Eh if we went back to the herb lore we lost during the witch trials and Inquisition we'd not only have more effective medicine but with less side effects too, but since the fethheads with the leeches burned all that information for being connected to witch craft I suppose we're SOL.

Quack science is bad science.

**KalashnikovMarine**

"We'd rather believe people receiving kick backs from large corporations that have absolutely no vested interest in our health or well being to shove pills down our throats that in many cases are more dangerous then the condition they are being used to treat, then accept the possibility that natural remedies used to treat a wide variety of ailments for millenia might actually be effective. We will do this while taking herbal supplements to promote health and well being."

Is how all that translated.

Just remember, the wonder drug penacilin is a natural remedy.

**Da Boss**

An overwhelming number of modern drugs also come from natural molecules.

Herb lore, are you for real. If middle ages herb lore was so effective why didn't the death rate decline until recently? Herbs are in many cases all well and good, but properly engineered drugs are what is needed to treat complex conditions.

On this case, hmph. Unless you can sue the original molecule creator, I think this strips another layer of protection from people in the fight against Big Pharma, which is already distressingly one sided.

**Somedude593**

Herb lore is just a less complex delivery system for the drugs we all take now... malaria is now treated with a drug called conine, before that locals in the tropics used to chew on a tree bark that released the same chemical.. sure it was less effective but it got tue job done....... three things have changed herb lore into the pharmaceuticals we know today 1. Mass production ( greater access, synthetic production of formerly herbal molecules) 2. Global Communications/trade (easier for cures to be spread) 3.Application method (pills/ hypodermic needles). These things have only been achieved fairly recently. However this is a topic for another thread that i might be happy to start. PS: I got ur back kalishnikov

**Monster Rain**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
"We'd rather believe people receiving kick backs from large corporations that have absolutely no vested interest in our health or well being to shove pills down our throats that in many cases are more dangerous then the condition they are being used to treat, then accept the possibility that natural remedies used to treat a wide variety of ailments for millenia might actually be effective. We will do this while taking herbal supplements to promote health and well being."

Is how all that translated.

Just remember, the wonder drug penacilin is a natural remedy.

The ignorance here is beyond all redemption.

You and your cohort don't seem to have the vaguest idea what you're talking about.

**dogma**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:

Just remember, the wonder drug penacilin is a natural remedy.

No it isn't. At least not according to your implied distinction between "natural" and "artificial".

**KalashnikovMarine**

Not to mention most herb lore and traditional medicine in Europe got stamped out during the Middle Ages under the auspices of the Catholic church. It was replaced by the much more modern and sensible system of men in goofy hats sticking leeches on you. So we'll never really know what exactly was lost in many cases.

As to the death rate declining, I'd guess stable food sources, sanitation (Hey guys! What if we stop keeping the bodies in the drinking water?) and the spread of machinery which makes even the few remaining traditional trades like farming significantly less brutal to spend a life time at have just as much to do with it as being able to pick up a scrip for Zoloft at Walgreens. (Or your Pharmacy of choice)

**Monster Rain**

And chemtrails!

**Hordini**

Monster Rain wrote:
And chemtrails!

Dude, don't post that here! The NSA is watching!