Two Sue Medtonic over Defective Sprint Fidelis Defibrillator Part
Two former people who were implanted with the Sprint Fidelis heart leads made by Medtronic, a Minneapolis based medical device maker, filed a lawsuit for injuries sustained through the implantation of the lead. They are suing for their own damages and as representatives of a class of all uses of the device. The Sprint Fidelis lawsuit was filed in the same Minnesota federal court, site of a previous lawsuit against Medtronic for an earlier implantable cardiac defibrillator recall.
The two plaintiffs allege in the complaint that the lead wire portion of the defibrillator was defective, due to cracks that develop in the wire. As a result, users of device either received jolting shocks when it falsely detected that the user needed a jolt or that the device failed, so that when they actually needed defibrillation they didn't get it. The lead is a wire that runs from the device, which is implanted in the chest, down through an artery in the heart.
One of the plaintiffs received 47 dangerous jolts even though his heart was not calling for help. His heart device was to be removed and replaced. Unbeknown to his doctors, a defect existed in the wire lead they replaced it with -- another defective Medtronic lead.
The suits allege that the Sprint Fidelis, which came on the market in 2004, was aware of the fault in the lead but did not issue warnings, and that the lead was defectively designed. It is also alleged that the device violated consumer protection laws in the states where the plaintiffs reside.
This new Medtronic litigation will follow the pattern of the previous litigation. It is unfortunate that Medtronic did not learn a lesson from it and stop sales much earlier than it did. The medical community published reports about this defect and Medtronic failed to act on it.
see: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071016/nym168.html?.v=86The Sprint Fidelis Electrode Recall
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