Just about as reliably as the swallows return to Capistrano, every year the U.S. House of Representatives passes medical liability reform legislation only to see it wither on the vine over in the Senate.

At least that's the way it's been for a quite a few legislative sessions. Will the 109th Congress prove to be any different? And what does recently proposed legislation mean for medtech manufacturers?

At the beginning of the year, the leadership of both the House and the Senate cited medical liability reform as a top priority. Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) included it among his top 10 legislative initiatives for the session. And House Republicans pledged to introduce yet another a medical liability reform bill early in the session.