Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/08/lawsuits_make_us_less_safe.html" target="_blank">http://www.realclearpolitics.c om/articles/2006/08/lawsuits_make_us_less_safe.html</a> >>Imagine if an evil business routinely deprived us of products that would help us live longer with less pain and more comfort. We'd be outraged, and lawyers would line up to sue. Yet something similar happens today, thanks to lawsuit abuse. Makers of all kinds of products are afraid to sell them to us because one lawsuit could ruin them. Personal-injury lawyers claim they make America safer, but that's a myth. It's easy to see who benefits from those big damage awards we read about. Less obvious -- but just as real -- are the things we'd all like to have but never will get because of this climate of fear. Here are a few examples....<< >>Union Carbide has invented a small portable kidney dialysis machine. It would make life much easier for people with kidney disease, but Union Carbide won't sell it. With legal sharks circling, the risk of expensive lawsuits outweighs the possible profit. Are you pregnant and nauseous? Bendectin would probably cure your morning sickness. For 27 years doctors prescribed the drug to 33 million women because it was so good at stopping nausea and vomiting. But you can't buy Bendectin today because lawyers kept suing the manufacturer, Merrell Dow, claiming the drug caused birth defects. Studies did not show that Bendectin caused birth defects, and Merrell Dow won most of the lawsuits. But after spending $100 million in legal fees and awards, the company gave up selling the drug. Bendectin has never been effectively replaced, and morning sickness is now a major contributor to dehydration during pregnancy. Dr. Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, says, "Within two years of discontinuing Bendectin, the incidence of hospitalization for dehydration during early pregnancy doubled; the incidence of birth defects was unchanged." Those are just some of the life-enhancing products we know we must do without because America's peculiar legal system makes it profitable for trial lawyers to pursue extortion -- like litigation. What wonderful products will we never even hear about because the lawyers have created a climate of fear?<<
Originally Posted By jonvn Um, executive summary? I can't read all this in all these topic. Just one line would be helpful.
