Criminal Law News

If a new bill proposed by Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York does go through and becomes law, then price gouging, or inflating the prices of pharmaceutical drugs that are already in short supply, could be categorized as a federal crime.

Senator Schumer says that he is currently proposing a bill that would allow the U.S. Department of Justice to come down heavily on pharmaceutical companies that sell potentially life-saving medications that are in short supply, to hospitals at heavily marked up prices.  Violators of the law could pay penalties of up to $500 million for each price gouging.

Drug shortages have been raging through American hospitals, and health regulators have been reporting shortages of some of the most important medications for cancer, pain control, infections and even anesthetics.  The shortage is especially severe for generic medicines.  Some drugs have been eliminated from the market, because companies have chosen to stop production of those drugs that have poor margins, while other drugs are unavailable due to limited supplies of ingredients.

Obviously, these shortages are gravely concerning because they impact patient safety.  According to one report, at least 15 patient deaths since 2010 were caused due to drug shortages.

Senator Schumer says that forcing hospitals to buy vital and potentially life-saving drugs at hugely inflated prices is unethical, and should also be illegal.  The Senator is currently working on finding cosponsors for the bill.  Last month, the Senator had also requested the Federal Trade Commission to conduct an investigation into the practice of price gouging in the industry.

There’s been a lot of attention on pharmaceutical drug shortages recently, and several lawmakers have also been in touch with President Obama, about the issue.  Arizona criminal defense lawyers therefore expect that Senator Schumer’s proposed bill will garner plenty of attention, and possibly gain a lot of support.