AdvaMed Submits Letter to House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Concerning Third-Party Litigation Funding
WASHINGTON – Today, AdvaMed, the Medtech Association, submitted a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability regarding the Committee’s consideration of an issue that threatens to undermine the foundations of our health care system: outside financing that generates mass tort litigation over important, beneficial medical devices.
Third-party litigation funding (TPLF) has been the driving force behind most litigation over medical devices, as well as deceptive lawsuit advertising targeted at consumers.
“The influx of billions of dollars of third-party litigation funding has fundamentally changed the dynamics of mass tort litigation. No longer can judges or the public presume that a lawsuit represents a plaintiff’s personal allegation that he or she was harmed by a product, sought needed medical care and retained a lawyer to seek redress,” said AdvaMed’s General Counsel and Chief Policy Officer Chris White. “The unfortunate reality is that today, most mass tort litigation against medical device manufacturers is fueled by banks, private equity firms and hedge funds.”
For several years, AdvaMed has been actively working to protect patients, along with medical device manufacturers, from risks associated with TPLF. You can read more about AdvaMed’s efforts to enhance litigation funding transparency at its Responsible Advertising for Patient Safety website.
There will be a Full Committee Hearing tomorrow (Wednesday, September 13 at 10:00AM ET), which will be live-streamed, to address the oversight of TPLF.