Supremes gut medical device suits

This is yet more proof America has reentered the robber baron era of "buyer beware."

The U.S. Supreme Court has just gutted patient lawsuits against makers of medical devices, ruling against the estate of a patient injured by a burst catheter. The estate had sued under a state law over the catheter, a device that had been approved by federal regulators. But the SCrOTUS has now ruled that state lawsuits are banned if they impose requirements more stringent than federal requirements.

In other words, if the federal government approves faulty products, the state laws don't mean shit, according to the Supreme Court.

Uh. Well. Um. Weren't conservatives the ones who were babbling about "states' rights" 10 years ago? Or is this another case of "states' rights for me, not for thee"?

Nothing in any statute or in the Constitution prohibits such suits in state courts. Nothing. This ruling is essentially fashioned from whole cloth. In fact, the Illinois Supreme Court had already ruled such suits were allowed.

Naturally, the Bush White House sided with the makers of the faulty medical devices.

(Source: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/politics/story/282056.html)