S-3949.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5960

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington   57th Legislature        2002 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Parlette, Thibaudeau, Kohl‑Welles and Honeyford)

READ FIRST TIME 02/08/2002.

Revising prescription drug product liability.

    AN ACT Relating to the learned intermediary doctrine for prescription products; adding a new section to chapter 7.72 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  It is the intent of the legislature through this act to create an exception to the "learned intermediary doctrine" for prescription products advertised directly to consumers, and that the state supreme court holding in Terhune v. A.H. Robins Co., and subsequent cases, to the extent that they are inconsistent with this intent, are no longer valid.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 7.72 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) Where a consumer has sought a prescription product in response to an advertisement for that product, the manufacturer of that product, who would otherwise be subject to liability under this chapter, is not relieved of that liability solely because the manufacturer warned the practitioner who prescribed the product of its proper use and attendant dangers.

    (2) For purposes of this section, "advertisement" means an advertisement for the product placed by the manufacturer or the manufacturer's agent in a journal, magazine, or newspaper, or on radio, television, the internet, or telephone communication systems, where it is generally intended that it will be read, watched, or listened to by persons other than medical professionals.

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