In case you need an example, let me remind you of a subject of one of my recent columns, on a law in Michigan that prevents patients from suing drug companies when they suffer injury or death as a result of a prescription drug. There s another one of these goofy laws that prohibits lawsuits against the manufacturers of small aircraft that are more than 18 years old. You can find some kind of special protection for all kinds of groups. There are also broader laws that apply to almost all kinds of products or a broad class of lawsuits, such as medical malpractice. Most states have passed some form of tort reform in the last 20 years, and there is still heavy pressure for more.
Tort reform is a continuing political issue and is now center stage in the presidential election.
Specifically, the immunity is granted by a federal law to health benefit plans provided by employers or unions and the HMO or other managed care organizations that sell or administer them. That s part of the great debate over a patient's bill of rights and over the regulation of HMOs. The HMO patient went to her doctor complaining of stomach pain. The doctor found an inflamed mass in her abdomen and ordered an ultrasound exam to be performed eight days later at a hospital 50 miles away. A local hospital could have done it right away.