Jack Kingston: “In terms of tort reform, what the drug companies are also telling us is in the two examples the gentleman gave us, if a…”

“In terms of tort reform, what the drug companies are also telling us is in the two examples the gentleman gave us, if a woman is taking a hormone-enhancing drug and because of research down the road, for whatever reason, that drug develops or accelerates the development of breast cancer, the drug company, of course, is going to get sued. What kind of protection should the drug company have, if any, in terms of tort reform or liability? Remember, when you go to court and you sue, you can get compensatory damages for the money you have lost. Then there is noncompensatory damages, and that is for pain and suffering. And that is harder to calculate, but still possible, it is an agreed-upon figure. A third kind of damage is a punitive damage where the State holds up the tortfeasor, in this case the drug company, as an example to others who would exhibit negligence, and punitive damages really was more for intentional or gross negligence, but lately it has not been. It would appear to me that limiting punitive damages at some point is sensible because the victim is already going to get compensatory and noncompensatory damages. We have not had much success with tort reform. Is that going to be part of the solution?”