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Put Patients FIRST: Just Say NO to Medical Malpractice Reform
As Congress prepares to make a significant overhaul of our healthcare system, there are those who believe that in order to achieve universal coverage, victims of medical negligence must surrender their legal rights and remedies. In the hope of achieving “bi-partisanship,” the Obama Administration has made several comments, indicating their willingness to enact medical malpractice reform in exchange for “bi-partisan” support of President Obama’s top domestic priority, health care reform. In fact, this coming Monday, the President will deliver a speech to the American Medical Association (“AMA”), a group that supports as one of their top priorities limiting the legal rights of injured patients.
Take Action!
Tell Congress and the White House they cannot sacrifice patient safety in the interest of reform. We deserve better. Patients should not have to give up one right to get another.
Support Fairness in Arbitration!
On April 29th, people who were harmed by forced arbitration will travel to DC to participate in Arbitration Fairness Day and urge support for the Arbitration Fairness Act. In anticipation of this event, the Chamber of Commerce has inundated Capitol Hill with misleading paper opposing the Arbitration Fairness Act.
Businesses oppose the Arbitration Fairness Act because the system of forced arbitration allows them to escape accountability for discrimination, harassment, gross negligence, fraud, and other corporate wrongdoing. Businesses aren’t looking out for the best interests of consumers and employees; they want to protect their ability to force individuals into a system that they design. Who wouldn’t want to control the method by which claims against them are resolved?
The Truth: HR 1020, the Arbitration Fairness Act does not eliminate arbitration, it just makes it voluntary. In other words, big business can’t force you to sign away your right to hold them accountable for their wrongdoings, but a consumer can still choose arbitration.
Don’t listen to the hype. The Chamber knows full well that they must use scare tactics to try and defeat this bill because they are on the wrong side of this issue. They think Americans won’t hold them accountable for spreading anti-consumer rhetoric.
Send a Letter to Congress and tell them not to be fooled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their well-funded, big business allies. Insist that they put People over Profits!
For more information on forced arbitration and the upcoming Arbitration Fairness Day, or to sign a petition please visit www.fairarbitrationnow.org.
Consumer Groups Supporting HR 1020, the Arbitration Fairness Act
Support S. 540/H.R. 1346, the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009
In February of 2008, the Supreme Court decided that medical device manufacturers cannot be held accountable for producing dangerous and defective products. They felt that FDA’s approval of a medical device warranted this immunity. It should not. The Medical Device Safety Act will return our rights that have been taken away by fixing this problem and putting the law back the way it was just over a year ago.
On March 31st, Medical Device Patients from across the country traveled to Washington, DC to voice their support for the Medical Device Safety Act.
Read Their Stories
Take Action! Send a Letter to Congress
Learn More About the Medical Device Safety Act
Supporters of the Medical Device Safety Act
Support S. 588/H.R. 1485, the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act of 2009
The Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act would establish requirements to ensure the security and safety of passengers and crew on cruise vessels by improving ship safety, improving crime scene response and investigation, as well as enforcing safety and environmental standards.
This bill will also establish fair and equitable remedies for those who fall victim to negligence while onboard a cruise vessel. Currently, under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), families who have lost someone in a boating disaster can only receive compensation for their loved one's lost wages. This does very little to help the family if it was a child, stay at home parent, or senior citizen with no income. Their lives should not be devalued in such a way.
Sign a Petition Supporting the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act
Learn More about the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA)
URGENT: CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES
On Tuesday, March 31, 2009, victims harmed by dangerous medical devices and their families will be in Washington, DC, to meet with members of Congress about The Medical Device Safety Act (MDSA), legislation that would restore the rights of thousands of Americans who have suffered or even died because of defective medical devices, like heart defibrillators, artificial valves, and prosthetic knees and hips, to seek justice through the civil justice system.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in Riegel v. Medtronic that manufacturers of class III medical devices that have been approved by the FDA’s pre-market approval process are essentially immune from liability. The Riegel decision is the subject of the MDSA that would restore injured patients’ right to seek justice in the courts when medical devices have failed, and in some instances, have even been recalled. This legislation follows the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in Wyeth v. Levine that held federal law does not preempt state-law claims with regard to drug warning labels.
Please support their efforts by lighting up the switchboards on Capitol Hill today, March 31st, and ask Congress to support HR 1346/S 540,the Medical Device Safety Act.
Toll Free: 1-800-828-0498
For more information about the Medical Device Safety Act, please visit our friends at www.StopCorporateImmunity.org
CONTACT YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND URGE SUPPORT FOR THE ARBITRATION FAIRNESS ACT OF 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
Congressman Henry “Hank” Johnson is set to introduce the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 this week. Please call or email your Member of Congress TODAY and ask them to be an original cosponsor of the bill. The Arbitration Fairness Act would prohibit the enforcement of binding mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, and franchisee contracts.
Last Chance to Become an Original Cosponsor of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009
From: The Honorable Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr.
Date: 2/6/2009
Preserve Consumer Rights
Last Chance to Become an Original Cosponsor of the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009
Current Original Cosponsors: B. Miller, Schakowsky, S. Bishop, Lee, Loebsack, Nadler, Chandler, P. Murphy, R. Scott, Pastor, LaTourette, Doggett, Conyers, Delahunt, Stupak, Wasserman Schultz, McCollum, Courtney
Dear Colleague,
One of our indelible rights is the right of a jury trial. Guaranteed by the Constitution, this right has been gradually ceded by citizens everyday as they purchase a new cell phone, buy a home, place a loved one in a nursing home, or accept a new job. Once used as a tool for businesses to solve their disputes, arbitration agreements have found their way into employment, consumer, franchise, and medical contracts.
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) was enacted as an alternative to resolve disputes between businesses on equal footing. Today, these agreements have entered the consumer level. In order to receive service, businesses have imposed mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements on consumers. Citing it as a cheaper, informal, expedited process, these contracts of adhesion leave consumers, employees, and small businesses at a disadvantage.
Ordinary Americans overwhelmingly do not support mandatory arbitration clauses when they are explained to them. However, millions of Americans have unknowingly received mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts for a wide range of consumer goods and services. Oftentimes, they are enforced without a signature, and are announced in hundreds of lines deep in fine print, written in dense legalese, often on the backside of a document or buried in a mailer along with other pieces of advertisements or solicitations. If and when a dispute does arise, high administrative fees, a lack of a discovery proceeding, and no meaningful judicial review of an arbitrator’s decision amount to a stacked deck against the consumer, making it harder for individuals to prevail.
Although states have tried to address this problem through their consumer protection laws, the courts have interpreted the Act to trump state laws leaving consumers very little recourse. This legislation would return the FAA to its original intention and omit consumer, medical, franchise, and employment agreements from these pre-dispute agreements. Americans are entitled to a trial by jury; pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements give only one side the upper hand.
Please become an original cosponsor of this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Henry “Hank” Johnson
Member of Congress
Learn More About Binding Mandatory Arbitration Clauses
Supreme Court Rules On Riegel v. Medtronic
February 21, 2:40pm
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a crucial decision on the issue of preemption yesterday. This decision severely limits the rights of people to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others.
The entire decision in Riegel v. Medtronic is available online and accessible at www.peopleoverprofits.org/preemptionresources. Additionally, we have prepared a summary of the case for your review that is available online at www.peopleoverprofits.org/preemptionresources.
This decision underscores the need to be pro-active in both education the public and Congress on the dangers of preemption. We are committed to reinstating the rights of consumers injured by medial devices. For months we have engaged Congress and the media on this issue, but this is just the start of what will be a consuming battle against the formidable and well financed drug industry.
We will continue to fight against preemption in all its forms and use all available resources in the effort. However, we cannot end this system of back door tort reform alone; we need your help to win this fight.
Tell Congress They Must Act Quickly to Reinstate These Important Rights
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