Hune Disputes Bills Will Limit Damages For Meningitis Victims Hune Disputes Bills Will Limit Damages For Meningitis Victims

11/27/12 - An attorney representing multiple clients affected by the fungal meningitis outbreak claims that plans by State Senator Joe Hune to pass a series of bills out of the insurance committee he chairs will severely limit the ability of patients suffering in the fungal meningitis outbreak from being able to recover damages. Marc Lipton is an Oakland County-based attorney representing many patients that have contracted meningitis from tainted steroids that officials say were produced at a Massachusetts pharmacy. Lipton claims that the package of bills, combined with a recent appeals court ruling concerning pharmacist negligence, will seriously limit damage lawsuits against the New England Compounding Center, where the tainted steroids were produced. Lipton says the senate bills are being pushed by Republican State Senator Roger Kahn of Saginaw, who is himself a doctor, and would eliminate a patient’s right to bring a claim for reimbursement for injuries caused by a physician’s or hospital’s mistakes. He further claims that Senator Hune is planning to pass the bills out of committee Tuesday without hearing any testimony from those who are affected by the fungal meningitis outbreak as previous hearings took place before that came to light. Hune disputes the notion that the bills would limit the damages sought by those affected by the fungal meningitis outbreak and insists if a vote is held tomorrow it will likely follow the framework of an agreement of all sides concerned. He called Lipton's comments, "...typical trial-lawyer crap." Hune says he met Monday with groups representing both trial-lawyers and doctors and that they are close to a conceptual agreement on those portions of the bills he expects will be voted on by the committee. As for taking additional testimony on Tuesday, Hune says they've already heard 15 hours worth and he's undecided if he'll allow any more. Lipton points out that the testimony was all before the fungal meningitis outbreak and that the vast majority of victims are likely his constituents as Michigan Pain Specialists in Brighton injected more patients with tainted steroids than all of the other Michigan clinics combined. Lipton adds that the bills are being rushed through the legislature to take advantage of its lame-duck status and that lawmakers should be focusing their attention on matters of more immediate concerns such as the proposed Blue Cross/Blue Shield transformation and the state’s Emergency Manager law. (JK)