Medical devices, like all products are subject to product liability law. If a medical device fails to act as it should and causes any injury or harm to an individual, that person may be eligible to file a medical device malfunction lawsuit. When a medical device defect is discovered, they are often quickly recalled, but despite warnings or recalls, medical device lawsuits are common. Victims can sue based on typical product liability statutes like “failure to warn” or defects occurring during manufacture.
One of the most important factors in a medical device lawsuit is the statute of limitations set out by the state in which the case will be tried. In many cases, people will miss the statute of limitations and therefore their opportunity to sue. It’s very important, when something goes wrong during a medical procedure, or when a medical device fails or causes harm, to seek the advice of an attorney who specifies in this kind of law, as quickly as possible.
The good news about statutes of limitations in these medical device malfunction cases it the fixed period of time in which a person must file a claim begins when their injury or illness is discovered, rather than when the injury happened.
For instance, a number of years ago a number of women came forward and sued over health problems due to silicone breast implants. The statute of limitations, in that kind of case, would have started when the subsequent illness or problem was diagnosed, rather than when the breast implants were actually inserted. Thus she had an extended period of time to file a claim about defective breast implants and medical device malfunction.
Another good example of medical device defects is cases relating to drug eluting stents. Stents are inserted into arteries to maintain blood and oxygen flow to major organs and the body. Some stents are coated in medication to prevent inflammation after insertion. In some cases, patients have had reactions to this medication, prompting anaphylactic shock, blood clots and other problems down the line. Once the illness is diagnosed as being related to the drug coated stent, a person must move quickly to file their lawsuit so they don’t miss their window of opportunity of collecting compensation for their injury caused my a medical device defect.
Another important nuance in medical device defects is the use of the “failure to warn” argument. In a typical product liability lawsuit, a company that fails to appropriately label their product with any warnings or problems can be liable for the injury caused by that failure to warn. One example of this action can be seen in the Medtronic lawsuit over defective batteries in their pacemakers and defibrillators. In this case, the plantiffs argued that Medtronic was aware of the possibility of the batteries failure after an expiration date, yet continued to sell the potentially (and ultimately) dangerous defibrillators.
In many cases, the manufacturer or a particular drug or medical device will inform the physician community about the risks very clearly and it then becomes the role of the physician to communicate those risks to the patient. This is when many attorneys face the decision whether to move forward with medical malpractice or with a product liability lawsuit based on a medical device defect or malfunction– and why it’s very important to ensure that you hire an attorney who is conversant in all of these topics. It is possible that your doctor is guilty of malpractice rather than the manufacturer of your medical device being guilty of product liability.
No matter what your situation is, if you have been the victim of a malfunctioning medical device, you should quickly contact a reputable attorney to advice you whether or not you have just cause to move forward with a medical device defect lawsuit.