US US companies on Wednesday won important new protections from lawsuits when the Supreme Court imposed new limits on suits brought by patients harmed by medical devices.
Voting 8-1 in Riegel v Medtronic, the justices barred a suit from the widow of a man injured by a heart catheter that had been approved for sale by the Food and Drug Administration. The issue was whether injured patients can second-guess the FDA by suing in a state court for products that have federal approval.
