Finally the Supreme Court Got It Right

A group of Harvard medical school students have created an ethical movement to expose the ties between medical faculty and pharmaceutical companies, ties that bias education, favoring pill popping over life style and preventative medicine. According to the New York Times, students have pressured the medical school into forcing faculty to post such relationships.

This is good.

Then yesterday the United States Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision, upheld a jury verdict for a musician who lost her arm after using a drug, holding the right to sue in state courts for damages despite federal approval of drugs, their labeling, and notices. Up until 2006 when the Bush administration changed course opposing private suits for damages, these state court claims had been seen as necessary deterrents, requiring a level of care from pharmaceutical companies before drugs into the market. Consider Vioxx.

Although writing his own concurring opinion, even Justice Clarence Thomas voted to permit state court claims against pharmaceutical companies who were marketing harmful drugs. Ummmm.