American Association
for Justice
Consumer
News for Families
The week of
Monday, September 08, 2008
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Medical Device Patients Would Be Protected Under New Safety Legislation
Bill Aims to Hold Corporations Accountable for Unsafe Devices
Bridget Robb, who received 31 unnecessary shocks to her heart by a defective Medtronic defibrillator, would have access to justice under legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate today.
Under the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Riegel v. Medtronic, patients injured by any of 316 medical devices find it harder to file lawsuits that would bring safety problems to the attention of the public. The Medical Device and Safety Act, introduced by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), would ensure that irresponsible medical device manufacturers do not have complete immunity from lawsuits.
“Right now we have a dangerous system of careless corporations, complete immunity and consumers going unprotected,” said American Association for Justice President Les Weisbrod. “This bill would fix the current system by revoking the ‘get out of jail free’ card that medical device manufacturers were wrongly awarded.”
The House of Representatives introduced a similar bill in June that would also fix the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Reigel v. Medtronic.
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