Opinion : Lawsuits

It has come to my attention that Bush is finally passing some anti-lawsuit regulation. Now while this does not nearly go far enough in my opinion, it is certainly a good start. I understand that lawsuits do a lot of good, and sometimes people really do need to be compensated, but there is a serious side effect that of our “litigation culture” that is rarely discussed. The problem that I have been noticing recently, particularly in healthcare areas, is that consumers are losing there freedom to choose. The problem is that because companies are afraid of lawsuits, they are not selling as many products or allowing certain procedures, even if they are fine for the vast majority of people.

Look at the recent problems with pain relief drugs like Vioxx. The risk when taking these drugs is that some people(less than 1 in 100000 at normal doses) may develop strokes or heart problems. Now we must note that first of all these drugs are usually prescribed to elderly people who have painful arthritis, and that second, these drugs work. All medical decisions are supposed to be made on a risk/benefit analysis, with the patients having the final say. Now if you are an 80 year old with crippling arthritis, are you going to choose pain and long odds, or a much more comfortable albeit marginally shorter life? I am not going to answer that, the point is that you should have the choice. Thanks to Merck being scared of litigation (which hasn’t even been filed) you no longer do. I personally have used the disputed drug Accutane, which is miraculous for acne. Apparently, there are lawyers who believe that this makes people commit suicide, because of course, letting teenagers have lower self esteem (because of their looks) would be much better. Newsflash : teenagers sometimes commit suicide and old people die. What happens before is that person’s business, not lawyers or corporations.

More examples are all over the place. What if you want your cup of coffee a little extra hot so it is still warm when you are done driving to work? Not going to happen thanks to someone suing McDonalds after spilling it on themselves. Like your fries with trans fat (extra crispy). Too bad (that lawsuit uncovered the startling realization that McDonalds food is unhealthy for you) Want to enjoy a game of lawn jarts? Not in some states. Most companies won’t even lease you a car in New York State anymore, you need to go through a special buyer program so the auto dealer isn’t liable for your inability to drive. And what is the end result of this? Lawyers make extravagant amounts of money and insurance premiums, from auto to health, skyrocket. Do you think that the money from the settlements from Vioxx are going to come from Merck’s shareholders or the executives? It is going to come out of the medical research budgets so that it will ironically take longer to find safer alternatives. Moreover, like McDonalds, they will probably just defray the costs by charging you more for their products as if prescription drug costs aren’t already high enough. Anyway, here’s hoping this new legislation will slow these suits down. Now if we could only pass caps on medical malpractice…