I absolutely agree there should be a limit on judgements (British spelling). To think you have a right to sue for hundreds of $millions when the miracle cure medication either caused the occasional bad result or didn't undo years of bad habits is a furthering of the illogic in thinking that the mind of man can do any damn thing under the sun.
If it can be shown that one arm of Big Pharma (shorthand more than insult) knew that a certain product had big problems but marketed it anyhow because the profits would be greater than the lawsuit costs, maybe a little higher awards would be in order.
Peragro, your remarks at the outset were not too insulting but you're lumping all people who urge a little restraint at the full on, enthusiastic embrace of any and every new development by man into the category of luddite is worse than insulting: it's limiting.
Many pharma advances are golden. In years past, the best cure for syphillis,
AFAIK, was a mercury based drug that you had to take for years and hope it worked. In the movie, "The Green Mile," the Tom Hanks character began the movie with a persistant urinary tract infection that had him on his knees just to take a piss. I've had that, more than once, owing to folly
, and anti-biotics cleared it right up.
Other aspects of embracing all things modern are not so ideal. Recent studies indicate that part of the reason for the dramatic increase in asthma may lie in today's children growing up in overly clean environments. Kids used to play in mud and the like, and wander in the woods in search of play. Kids today are kept in a more antiseptic environment and their immune systems don't get challenged in the formative years as happened more before. Not saying this is ironclad, but there could be an
element of truth to it.
When I say "challenged," I'm talking about bacteria and the like, not toxic chemicals in the water, air, and garments (flame retardant chemicals).
The mind of man is capable of all sorts of good stuff. Another thing our minds are capable of is a stubborness in letting go of the unshakable belief that we can improve on nature, each and every time.