A 13-year old lawsuit came to an end Friday when a St. Louis Circuit Court jury ruled in favor of six tobacco companies in the suit filed by 37 Missouri hospitals seeking more than $455 million and punitive damages for the costs of treating smoking-related patients who were uninsured or did not pay their bills, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The case was the third healthcare cost recovery case against tobacco companies to go to trial. St. Louis and its area hospitals sued the tobacco companies in 1998, alleging they misrepresented the dangers of smoking.
“The jury here found that ordinary cigarettes are not defective and not negligently manufactured, and that’s what this case was all about,” said Ken Parsigian, an attorney for tobacco company Philip Morris, in a St. Louis Today report.
Related Articles on Hospitals and Smoking:
Court Upholds Smoking Ban at Pennsylvania’s ACMH Hospital
Where There’s No Smoke, There’s Still Fire: Repercussions of Smoker-Free Hospitals
Massachusetts Hospital Association Unveils Smoke-Free Initiative for Hospitals
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