Some members of Congress are attempting to remove a 2008 Supreme Court decision that stands as a barrier against suing medical device manufacturers. This ruling has barred patients, or their survivors, from suing manufactures of complex medical devices if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the products sale. Since this ruling, judges from around the country have cited it in dismissing cases against a wide range of manufacturers. For example, situations in which a woman was burned internally by a device that was meant to reduce menstrual bleeding, and numerous patients who claim they were injured by faulty heart implants or joints.
Recently, however, some members of Congress have decided they want to give potential plaintiffs a chance at legal action. Two House Democrats plan to reintroduce legislation that will nullify the Supreme Court Decision. A similar bill introduced in the Senate last year is also expected to be reintroduced. The legislators, as well as patient advocates, say the Supreme Court’s decision has left patients legally powerless against “spotty oversight of products” by the FDA. With the Supreme Court ruling, patients are facing a dangerous situation in which the FDA is incapable of keeping dangerous products off the market and patients cannot sue companies for restitution.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to hold hearings this session to determine whether the FDA’s process for device approval is adequate after numerous claims that it does not have the necessary resources to asses all risks that a device poses once it gets on the market. Opposition to the legislation claims the FDA is the appropriate body to set national safety standards and allowing juries to undermine its decisions will hinder product innovation.
Many believe the Supreme Court’s decision does not reflect the unpredictability of the FDA review process. Recently, for example, when doctors extracted a faulty electronic cable from a patient’s heart, a vessel was punctured causing excessive bleeding. The patient died two days later and a lawsuit against Medtronic, the manufacturer of the faulty device, was thrown out. This cable, called a lead, was never tested in humans before it went on the market and before Medtronic could recall the product, it was implanted in more than 235,000 patients; five of these patients may have died due to the problem.
The Supreme Court is currently deciding whether it should give the same type of legal protections to drug manufacturers in the case of Wyeth v. Levine. Hopefully, the Court will not grant such broad-reaching immunity for drug manufacturers. Drug companies, like all persons and entities in our country, should be held responsible for wrongful conduct, especially when such conduct sacrifices safety in the name of profits.
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