House legislation would reverse Supreme Court ruling on devices
July 2nd, 2008 joshua
The new Medical Device Safety Act of 2008 would overturn a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year which pre-empted class action lawsuits in state courts.
In Riegel v. Medtronic, the Supreme Court ruled that since the company’s catheter was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the manufacturer could not be sued because the product allegedly defected. The court used a clause in the 1976 Medical Device Amendments to make this pre-emption case for the medical device industry.
This new Act, if it passes the House and Senate, would overturn this court decision and allow class action lawsuits against medical device makers in state courts.
The Act is being introduced by California Rep. Henry Waxman and New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. Senators Ted Kennedy (Dem., Mass.) and Patrick Leahy (Dem., Vt.).
Since the ruling in favor of Medtronic in February, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer each avoided lawsuits against its drugs, generic forms of Paxil and Zoloft.
