Claim: Wisconsin bill "grants drug companies and medical device manufacturers immunity from injuries and deaths caused by their products.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak
text: settlement plan received prior approval from the official committee of unsecured creditors in the bankruptcy case. In September 2013, Michigan U.S. Representative Fred Upton introduced the Drug Quality and Security Act (H.R. 3204; 113th Congress) in response to the meningitis outbreak. Rep. Upton's district had three deaths and 19 total deaths occurred in Michigan. The bill passed the United States House of Representatives on September 28, 2013 by a voice vote and in November the United States Senate began working on a bill that would modify the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to grant the FDA more authority to

title: Mike Fitzpatrick
text: the sale and trafficking of illicit goods. Since December 2014, Fitzpatrick has been a leading voice in Congress on medical device safety. He has pressed the FDA after dangerous medical devices remained in use after causing serious injury and death. On June 8, 2016, Fitzpatrick and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced two bills to reform the medical device review and approval process. The first bill, Ariel Grace's Law, would allow victims of dangerous medical devices to seek legal recourse. The second bill, the Medical Device Guardians Act, would require physicians to identify and report unsafe medical devices and would protect

title: Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act
text: immunity from liability at any time, thereby conferring upon drug companies legal immunity for harm caused by their misconduct. The immunity that could be conferred on drug and vaccine manufacturers can be applied regardless of wrongdoing by affected drug companies. Numerous consumer organizations vigorously opposed the legislation, including A-CHAMP, Eagle Forum, and Public Citizen, as well as first responder organizations representing nurses, firemen and veterans. A-CHAMP ran a series of full page advertisements in various publications in opposition to PREPA. Because the legislation delegaties broad legislative power to the executive branch of government, opponents view it as a violation of

title: Bill Monning
text: corporations, leaving farm workers without anyone to file a claim against. "This measure is modeled after previous legislation in the garment manufacturing and car wash industries to address fraudulent successor business scams," said Monning "The workers most affected and victimized by such unscrupulous practices are farm workers." In 2015, Monning co-sponsored, with Lois Wolk (D-Davis), SB 128, the California End of Life Option Act. The bill was modeled after Oregon's Death With Dignity Act (1994). The law authorizes adults with six months or less to live to request a doctor's prescription for life-ending medication. It passed the California Senate easily,

title: Health care in the United States
text: public. The FDA reviews and approves products and establishes drug labeling, drug standards, and medical device manufacturing standards. It sets performance standards for radiation and ultrasonic equipment. One of the more contentious issues related to drug safety is immunity from prosecution. In 2004, the FDA reversed a federal policy, arguing that FDA premarket approval overrides most claims for damages under state law for medical devices. In 2008 this was confirmed by the Supreme Court in Riegel v. Medtronic. On June 30, 2006, an FDA ruling went into effect extending protection from lawsuits to pharmaceutical manufacturers, even if it was found

title: Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005
text: top recipient in the Senate was the bill's sponsor, Senator Richard Burr, who received $288,684, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. Senator Burr said the legislation "creates a true partnership" between the federal government, the pharmaceutical industry and academia to "walk the drug companies through the Valley of Death" in bringing a new vaccine or drug to market. Exemptions from open records and meetings laws would streamline the development process, safeguard national security and protect the proprietary interests of drug companies, say Republican backers of the bill. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) said "Their plan will protect companies that

title: Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act
text: fundamental principles of the US Constitution. Senator Edward Kennedy issued a statement demanding repeal of the PREPA legislation, while condemning the liability provisions as a giveaway to the drug industry. Kennedy said the bill makes it "essentially impossible" for injured parties to sue for damages, and that the measure allows common diseases to be used as a reason to activate the liability shield. Kennedy also notes that one of the drug companies that lobbied for PREPA is Sanofi Pasteur, which is under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation for being connected to at least five cases of Guillain–Barré syndrome caused

title: Contaminated haemophilia blood products
text: against the companies, the bill allowed an estimated additional 75 eligible persons to file suits. The plaintiffs alleged that the companies manufactured and sold blood factor products as beneficial "medicines" that were, in fact, contaminated with HIV and/or HCV and resulted in the mass infection and/or deaths of thousands of hemophiliacs worldwide. The companies' failure to follow US federal law and conduct tests against viral hepatitis increased the risk of plasma containing HIV entering plasma pools. Contaminated haemophilia blood products Contaminated haemophilia blood products were a serious public health problem in the late 1970s up to 1985. These products caused

title: 41st Canadian Parliament
text: require healthcare institutions to report adverse drug reactions and medical device incidents. The Minister of Transport introduced the "Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act" implemented the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, extends civil and criminal immunity to oil spill response operations, and adds new reporting requirements to oil handling facilities. The same minister also introduce the "Safe and Accountable Rail Act" establishes minimum liability insurance levels for railway companies and creates a new compensation fund financed by shippers for use to cover damages from railway

title: Fred Upton
text: grant the Food and Drug Administration more power to regulate drug compounding in the wake of the New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak. Upton indicated that three of the deceased were from his district. The bill passed in the House and was being debated in the Senate. On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed Upton's 21st Century Cures Act into law. The bill, co-sponsored by Upton and Diana DeGette (D-CO) passed the House 392 to 26 and the Senate 94 to 5. The act establishes funds for biomedical research and to develop and implement a strategic plan for biomedical research.

title: Mahlon Mitchell
text: 2010. Mitchell worked to help pass two pieces of legislation that were seen as victories for fire fighters across the state, including the Infectious Disease Presumption Law to ensure that firefighters are covered if they contract a disease or disability on the job, and a law ensuring that families and spouses of fire fighters who die in the line of duty will have their health insurance premiums covered. Mitchell was sought out by the national media as a critic of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s collective bargaining changes, which prompted weeks of demonstrations in Madison. In late October 2011, a movement

title: Tort reform
text: than two-thousandths of 1%). Critics of tort reform also contend that the real purpose of the proposed changes is to shield businesses, especially large corporations, from having to pay just compensation to consumers, patients and clients for the harm incurred from fraud, negligence, medical malpractice, product liability or other legitimate tort claims. In response to lawsuits filed against gun manufacturers by several municipalities, a bill was proposed by the U.S. Congress in 2005 that would provide immunity to gun manufacturers for most negligence and product liability actions (and prohibit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from revoking a

title: Joe Lieberman 2004 presidential campaign
text: current state, it does not provide sufficiently for our nation's elderly. In 2005, Lieberman introduced S. 975, the Project BioShield II Act of 2005, to provide incentives to increase research by private sector entities to develop medical countermeasures to counter bioterrorism threats. The bill seeks to grant liability protection for these drugs and an extension of patents to companies producing drugs needed in case of a bioterrorism attack. Lieberman joined a few other Democrats, Republican Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the Republican Congress as a vocal supporter of intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. When control of the Senate switched

title: Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce
text: of Michael Gableman's campaign for State Supreme Court Justice, successfully ousting sitting Justice Louis Butler. Justice Louis Butler subsequently asserted that three cases in particular caused WMC to target him. One favored the families of three men killed when a giant crane collapsed during construction of Miller Park; another struck down the cap on medical malpractice damages for pain and suffering, and the third expanded the liability of paint manufacturers in cases of lead poisoning. This spending and subsequent advertisement were criticized by members of the Madison press, the state bar and the Brennan Center, a non-partisan policy center at

title: Drug Quality and Security Act
text: Drug Quality and Security Act The Drug Quality and Security Act () is a law that amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to grant the Food and Drug Administration more authority to regulate and monitor the manufacturing of compounded drugs. The bill was written in response to the New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak that took place in 2012, which killed 64 people. The bill was signed by President Obama on November 27, 2013. The bill was introduced by Rep. Upton in response to the New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak that took place in 2012. 64 people

title: Paul LePage
text: a statement at the announcement of the approval, the FDA commissioner said that drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, largely due to prescription drug overdoses. LePage vetoed a similar bill in 2013. In an interview LePage stated, "I think we need to treat, Let's deal with the treatment, the proper treatment and not say, Go overdose, and oh, by the way, if you do I'll be there to save you. I think we need to deal with the bigger, basic problem of drug addiction, drug trafficking and drug abuse in the state.

title: Jacki Rickert
text: September 11-18, 1997, to raise awareness of her plight. In an "Eau Claire Leader-Telegram" newspaper interview, Rickert said "We're just ordinary people trying to do an extraordinary thing." On March 13, 2000, Rickert's home was raided by local police, who rifled through her belongings and confiscated her property. Buffalo County District Attorney James Duval did not file any charges. Medical marijuana bills introduced into the Wisconsin Legislature since 2001 have failed to pass. 2010's Assembly Bill 554 and Senate Bill 368, introduced in combined health committee on December 15, 2009, (called the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act) which would have

title: Timothy M. Kennedy (politician)
text: state's legal immunity for claims for damages. The legislation would specifically amend Section 58 of the State Highway Law, which immunizes the state from "liability for damages arising from defects in its highways" during cold-weather months. The bill proposed by Kennedy "would allow motorists to seek damages from the state for 'egregious or unreasonable' defects year-round or when it was given prior notice of a defect." State Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti filed companion legislation in the State Assembly. Kennedy was a supporter of the legalization of mixed martial arts (MMA) in New York, which at the time was the only

title: Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997
text: nursing homes—that experience deaths and serious illnesses or injuries linked with the use of devices. Finally, the law expands an ongoing pilot program under which the FDA accredits outside—so-called "third party"—experts to conduct the initial review of all low-to-intermediate risk class I and II devices. The act, however, specifies that an accredited person may not review devices that are permanently implantable, life-supporting, life sustaining, or for which clinical data are required. The act eliminates the requirement of the FDA's premarket approval for most packaging and other substances that come in contact with food and may migrate into it. Instead, the

title: Alwin v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.
text: Alwin v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. Alwin v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., 610 N.W.2d 218 (Wis. Ct. App. 2000), was a case decided by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals that provided an exception to the statutory strict liability of dog owners for injuries caused by their dogs. The plaintiff (the defendant's mother) tripped over the defendant's dog and sustained injuries. The Wisconsin civil code §174.02 holds dog owners strictly liable for all injuries caused by their dogs, and this theoretically allowed recovery in this case. The court, however, ruled that as a matter of public policy