“Over the course of the pandemic, lawsuits came from every direction, questioning public health policies and hospitals’ authority.”
Public health has had its day in court lately. And another day. And another day.
Over the course of the pandemic, lawsuits came from every direction, questioning public health policies and hospitals’ authority. Petitioners argued for care to be provided in a different way, they questioned mandates on mask and vaccine use, and they attacked restrictions on gatherings.
Historically, “there’s been nothing but a cascade of supportive deference to public health,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor specializing in public health law at Georgetown University. That changed during the pandemic. “It’s the opposite. It’s been a torrent.”
Even as covid-19 wanes, lawyers representing the health care sector predict their days in court aren’t about to end soon. A group of litigators and media companies, among others, are eyeing policy changes and even some profits from yet more lawsuits.
Because such groups can reach millions of people, public health advocates like Gostin and Brian Castrucci, president of the de Beaumont Foundation, a public health nonprofit, suggest that the result, beyond creating legal setbacks, could spread more misinformation about their work. The imprimatur of a lawsuit, they think, can help spread vaccine skepticism or other anti-public health beliefs, if only through news coverage. “You know, lawsuits have a galvanizing effect,” Gostin said. “They tend to shape public opinion.”
Lawyers are organizing to promote their theories. Late in March, a group of them gathered in Atlanta for a debut Covid Litigation Conference to swap tips on how to build such cases. “Attention, Atlanta lawyers!” proclaimed an ad promoting the event. “Are you ready to be a part of the fastest-growing field of litigation?”
Sponsors to Growing Litigation
The conference was sponsored in part by the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, which was established on vaccine-skeptical views. The gathering promised to share legal strategies for suing federal and state public health agencies over covid policies, as well as hospitals and pharmaceutical firms for alleged malfeasance.
It’s the sort of thing that has people like Gostin paying attention. “It’s very worrisome,” he said. Even if lawsuits don’t succeed, it could make hospitals and public health officials gun-shy, he said. At the height of the pandemic, lawyers were successfully forcing hospitals to administer ivermectin to treat covid — despite many gold-standard, randomized, controlled trials demonstrating it wasn’t particularly useful.
The conference was a good way to meet like-minded advocates, explained Steven Warshawsky, a New York lawyer who attended. “There’s networking and an effort to create a legal community that’s knowledgeable,” he said. And colleagues can also “spread the word about different legal angles.” Indeed, panels covered subjects ranging from licensure to hospital negligence, and allegations of vaccine injuries.
Financing Expeditions for Large Settlements
The conference was organized by Steve Kirsch, a wealthy San Francisco Bay Area tech executive, who describes himself as a “truth teller” regarding covid vaccines and policies. He has persistently raised questions about masks and vaccines and other standard public health measures. The conference, he said, is meant to help encourage lawyers to further that stance. He said he hopes that “the lawyers are successful in getting large settlements” because “it will incentivize other lawyers” to bring their own suits against pharmaceutical firms and government agencies alike.
He’s been known to tweet about situations in which he, an unmasked person, encountered masked counterparts. For example, during a flight, he offered $100,000 to an airplane seatmate to remove her mask. (He said he did it to test the level — and potential hypocrisy — of people’s attachment to masks.)
Kirsch’s legal entrepreneurism is on full display in his newsletter: Individuals seeking his comments can check boxes if they are lawyers who would represent him in various lawsuits against the federal government on vaccine-related issues.
Vindicating Liabilities as Political Cause
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