April 2013

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), H.R. 624, last week and the bill is set to be taken up by the Senate quickly.  

While there is across-the-board agreement on the need to update the nation’s cybersecurity laws, CISPA contains broad provisions that eliminate the ability of harmed individuals and business to hold corporations accountable that have acted recklessly or negligently after receiving cyber threat information. 

A new study out yesterday from the Journal of the American Medical Association shows private hospitals profit more from their own surgical errors than from treatments without complications.  These results indicate that hospitals do not have a financial incentive to improve patient safety.

Generic drugs make up 80% of all prescriptions filled in the United States, and roughly 53 billion dollars in sales.  Despite that, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Pliva v. Mensing that generic drug manufacturers have no responsibility to update their warning labels when they learn of new side-effects.  As a result, generic drug makers cannot be held accountable, even if their drug injures or even kills someone. The Supreme Court left it to Congress to change the law.  

Read the real story of Camille Baruch to learn how the access of justice has been denied for generic drug patients.  

Congress needs to amend the law to allow both generic and brand manufacturers to be responsible for their drugs’ safety.  Send a message to your member of Congress today!

Washington, DC—At 61, Carlos Stapleton of Cumming, Ga., was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer with one known cause: exposure to asbestos. He died less than a year later. Carlos is among the hundreds of thousands of Americans killed by asbestos. In honor of National Asbestos Awareness Week, Take Justice Back is highlighting the stories of Carlos and three other asbestos victims and the fight to protect access to justice.