Major major Bush clean-up action today, as Obama issued a new order, through OMB, rebuking Bush's "preemption" policy, stating "pre-emption of state law by executive departments and agencies should be undertaken only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the states and with a sufficient legal basis for preemption." So, no longer will agencies be able simply to immunize corporations from lawsuits, as they've been doing in a massive and unprecented scale under Bush. Congrats to AAJ for its work on this!
A Florida woman who sued the hospital where she contracted the “flesh-eating bacteria” after giving birth, requiring the amputation of her arms and legs, has settled for an undisclosed (though no doubt, damage cap-effected) amount.
We know that doctors enjoy getting “gifts” from drug companies, so we weren’t exactly surprised by a new study showing that even small drug company trinkets like coffee mugs and pens have a direct effect on doctors’ prescription writing habits. Meanwhile, the Vermont legislature just passed a law banning nearly all such gifts, and “requiring drug and device makers to publicly disclose all money given to physicians and other health care providers, naming names and listing dollar amounts.”
Lawsuits have a terrific way of unearthing documents that might otherwise have remained buried. Exhibit A: according to internal documents released during lawsuits against AstraZeneca, marketing executives spent years blocking efforts by company scientists to voice concerns that the drug Seroquel caused weight gain and other problems, saying that disclosing such information “would harm sales.”
NY AG Andrew Cuomo is suing two debt settlement companies that “preyed on consumers” who couldn’t pay their bills, promising to dramatically reduce their debts for a fee and then failing to deliver.
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