Consumer Law

Website to Stop Corporate Immunity

By Kia Franklin

Check out this website: www.StopCorporateImmunity.org, which is designed to build awareness about the real life effects of federal preemption on important claims related to defective medical devices. There you can access clips of patients sharing stories about how they were affected by faulty medical devices that, because they were FDA-approved, were protected from lawsuits despite the serious injuries they caused people.

The website belongs to the Campaign to Stop Corporate Immunity (CSCI), which according to the website "represent[s] consumer, health, and trade associations fighting to restore the rights of patients injured by faulty medical devices."

Tomorrow May 12, the House Energy and Commerce?s Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing on the Medical Device Safety Act (MDSA). Proponents of the bill say it will increase accountability for manufacturers of faulty medical devices and open up the civil justice system to people with important, legitimate claims.

I like the messaging used here--"stop corporate immunity." At a time when everyone is ticked off about the bailing out of corporate America at the expense of ordinary people's wallets and rights, this is exactly the point that needs to be driven home. Preemption of claims related to defective products does not help consumers or patients, it harms us. Scientific innovations can continue and cost-effective products can be offered without forcing us to sacrifice our right to hold the corporate entity that makes the product responsible if things go terribly wrong due to their bad behavior.

Full post as published by TortDeform.com on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).