Two interesting SCotUS decisions on this subject.

Wyeth v. Levine, decided 2009
Musician Diana Levine lost her arm to blatant malpractice at a poorly insured Vermont clinic, and was allowed to keep a $6.7 award against drug manufacturer Wyeth. Wyeth had used an FDA-approved label, but SCotUS
allowed Vermont courts and juries to speculate that a different State label might somehow have caught the health technician’s attention.

Pliva v. Mensing, decided 2011
Some patients suffered bad effects from longterm use of generic metoproclamide. SCotUS did not allow them to sue the generic manufacturer for defective labeling, because Congress, in allowing and encouraging the manufacture of generic drugs, specifically *required* generic manufacturers to use the same label as the original manufacturer.

The NY Times and other friends of the plaintiffs’ bar decried Pliva v Mensing as terrible, leaving patients with bad outcomes without legal resource. I suggested that government could more cheaply and fairly backstop clinics with poor insurance, either with automatic government insurance, or a Workmen’s Comp-style system of direct payments.

But I can find no record of his saying it, not even on CT.gov, at the Malloy web page.

Our Governor is really enjoying his lame-duck status. I’m not.

http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/vrach-ubijca-e.html