PUNITIVE DAMAGES OFFER LITTLE "ADDITIONAL INCENTIVE"
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
PUNITIVE DAMAGES OFFER LITTLE "ADDITIONAL INCENTIVE" for drug manufacturers to protect the safety of consumers, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association representative Richard Cooper maintained during a March 15 hearing before Sen. Howell Heflin's (D-Ala.) Judiciary/courts and administrative practice subcommittee hearing on pending legislation (S 687). Cooper stated that "the additional incentive that would be provided by punitive damages would be extremely small and probably outweighed by the general cost of punitive damages to the health care system."