Monday, October 18, 2004

 

LaGrippe Tort

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler has a good piece on lawyers and the flu vacine problem. Here's a piece:

Audacity is on display, with Kerry breathlessly trying to blame Bush for the vaccine shortage. Kerry should look around and behold his own running mate, a man who made a living suing anyone who dared to touch a patient.

In the ad, a narrator says: "Three years ago, medical experts warned George Bush that a dangerous shortage loomed. Instead of fixing the problem, production of the vaccine was sent to a factory overseas -- the vaccines were contaminated. Now Bush wants Canada to help, even though his own policies make it illegal for us to import medicine from Canada. Seniors and children wait. Not enough vaccines for pregnant women. A George Bush mess."

Well, not even the Washington Post fell for that one. Unasked in all the constant harping about Canadian drugs is how a country of a bit over 30 million people has enough drug capacity on hand to supply a country of almost 300 million without suffering shortages that in comparison would make you think "smorgasbord" when you heard the word "Ethiopian". The WaPo analysis continues with this note.

Bush aides noted that Kerry had opposed legislation last year that would have immunized vaccine makers from punitive damages in lawsuits involving FDA-approved products. Most Democrats objected to the bill, which never came to a Senate vote, because it would cap non-economic damages at $250,000 in all liability cases. Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said the senator supported a vaccine compensation law for injured patients that passed in the 1990s, adding: "The American people want flu shots, not more excuses why George W. Bush dropped the ball."

The Bush camp, however, says spending on flu preparedness has grown from $39 million to $283 million during the president's term.


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