Certainly if lawsuits were allowed for approving things but not allowed for failing to approve things, that would be a disaster. But the issue here isn’t that they approved something they shouldn’t have, it’s that, faced with extremely time-sensitive approval decisions, they keep dragging their feet and waiting weeks while not appearing to do anything in the mean time, ie failing to do their job promptly. If they could be sued for that, it would likely be an improvement.
I think in practice allowing them to be sued for egregious malpractice would lead them to be more hesitant to approve, since I think people are much more likely to sue for damage from approved drugs than damage from being prevented from drugs, plus I think judges/juries would find those cases more sympathetic. I also think this standard would potentially cause them to be less likely to change course when they make a mistake and instead try to dig up evidence to justify their case.
Can people who are prevented from getting the J&J vaccine due to the suspension and later get Covid sue the FDA?
No. The FDA is fully immune to lawsuits related to its decisions, no matter how moronic.
This is probably a good thing—I’d imagine that if you could sue the FDA, they’d be a lot more hesitant to approve anything.
Certainly if lawsuits were allowed for approving things but not allowed for failing to approve things, that would be a disaster. But the issue here isn’t that they approved something they shouldn’t have, it’s that, faced with extremely time-sensitive approval decisions, they keep dragging their feet and waiting weeks while not appearing to do anything in the mean time, ie failing to do their job promptly. If they could be sued for that, it would likely be an improvement.
I think in practice allowing them to be sued for egregious malpractice would lead them to be more hesitant to approve, since I think people are much more likely to sue for damage from approved drugs than damage from being prevented from drugs, plus I think judges/juries would find those cases more sympathetic. I also think this standard would potentially cause them to be less likely to change course when they make a mistake and instead try to dig up evidence to justify their case.
Technically speaking that isn’t true but practically speaking it is. (Just like technically speaking you could write a letter of complaint to Stalin)
Congress could find their behavior so egregious they pass a law authorizing you to sue.
Well, if we are involving Congress there are even better remedies than litigation.