Judicial activism to protect Big Medicine looms

When a professional guitarist from Vermont had to have her arm amputated because of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals' carelessness, she sued Wyeth. And a Vermont court awarded her $6,800,000.

Wyeth had long known that using an IV push to deliver its anti-nausea drug Phenergan created a risk that could be avoided - but it neglected to warn doctors or patients of this risk.

Now - instead of paying up - the drug company is appealing the Vermont verdict, in typical crybaby fashion. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Wyeth's appeal in November. And with the current Supreme Court's torrid record of right-wing judicial activism, many fear the worst.

Wyeth's defense is Bush's preemption doctrine. Bush's FDA has decreed that state courts can't award damages to people injured by manufacturers promoting the dangerous use of a drug.

Problem with that? It's a state issue - not federal. The FDA has no legal power to run roughshod over the states' rights to ensure remedies for consumers. None.

But with Federalist Society whack-a-doos in charge of the Supreme Court, federal preemption is a sacred doctrine. To them, states are not to be viewed as self-governing entities but as colonies to be micromanaged by a federal regime (which many of the states had no voice in putting in power).

Not like all the states are blameless. Under right-wing asshole Gov. John Engler, Michigan passed a tort "reform" law making it illegal for people to sue drug makers in almost all circumstances. Now, when consumers win a class-action suit involving defective drugs, Michigan consumers aren't allowed to collect damages (while those in the other 49 states and D.C. can). All because Engler was such a people-hating prick.

BushAmerica is like EnglerMichigan: near-total deregulation of Big Business, and - if the Supreme Court sides with Wyeth - near-total lack of remedies for the consumer.

The preemption dogma espoused by Bush's FDA was concocted by Daniel Troy, who used to sue the government on behalf of greedy drug makers and powerful tobacco corporations. When he left the FDA, he went to GlaxoSmithKline.

Another powerful FDA guy is Randall Lutter, who defended the preemption policy before Congress. Lutter was a member of an ExxonMobil-funded organization that denied the existence of climate change.

Wyeth hasn't repaired the problems with the Phenergan label. Years after the Vermont incident, an elderly Florida woman lost a limb because Wyeth failed to change the label to warn physicians about the risk.

(Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3894/high_court_may_immunize_big_pharma;
http://www.dangerousdrugs.us/2008/07/a-very-rare-law.html)