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Unsafe Medical Products
Recall Announcements
- Zimmer Knee Implants: Certain Zimmer NexGen knee implant models are failing at a high rate...
- Ladder Recalls: Louisville Ladder recalled about 25,000 extension ladders carrying the “Michigan” and “Louisville/Davidson” brands...
- AED Heart Device Deaths: The FDA has notified consumers, hospitals, and medical professionals that Cardiac Science Corporation must recall Automated External Defibrillators...
- Defective Stroller Recall: Maclaren USA is recalling approximately one million strollers...
- Fosamax Lawsuits: Fosamax linked to serious side effect risks including osteonecrosis of the jaw, heart arrhythmia, thigh bone fractures, painful eye inflammations, and esophagus cancer.
Practice Area Attorneys
- Lawrence R. Cohan, Shareholder
(Environmental & Toxic Torts Law, Vaccines, Biomedical Tissue Services, Pharmaceutical Liability, Dangerous Drugs) - Thomas Anapol, Shareholder
(Environmental and Toxix Torts Law, Medical Malpractice, Wrongful Death, Pharmaceutical Liability, Dangerous Drugs) - Stephen J. Pokiniewski, Jr. Non-Equity Partner
(Medical Malpractice, Wrongful Death, Failure to Diagnose Meningitis)
Medical Devices
The Potential Dangers of Defective Medical Devices
Medical devices encompass a broad range of equipment that include complicated machines that are only used by trained professionals in a hospital and everyday things such as denture cream or blood testing equipment that are used by patients at home. Despite the diversity of products, the products have two important things in common. First, medical devices are intended to improve or maintain a patient’s health and second, when medical devices are defective they can cause serious injury or death.
FDA Defective Medical Device Recalls are Increasing
In the first half of 2010, 21 medical devices were recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because they presented a risk of serious injury or death. That was more than double the number of medical devices recalled by the FDA during the first half of 2009.
How a Medical Device Can be Defective
Generally, a medical device’s defect is caused by:
- A Design Defect: medical device manufacturers are required to provide their designs to the FDA prior to gaining FDA approval. However, that does not guarantee that the design is error free. A medical device that is manufactured according to a defective design can put patients at risk of serious injury or death.
- A Manufacturing Defect: in some cases of defective medical products, the design for the medical product is safe but it the device is not manufactured according to the design specifications. This causes an unsafe product to be put on the market. A manufacturing defect suggests a problem with the manufacturing process and also with the quality control process which should catch manufacturing mistakes before a medical leaves the manufacturer’s control.
- A Warning Defect: sometimes, a medical device is designed and manufactured correctly but is still defective. For example, if the medical device manufacturer knows of potential dangers that would not be obvious to the medical professionals or patients who are using the devices and the manufacturer fails to warn the users of the potential danger(s) then the product may be defective because of the manufacturer’s failure to warn about the possible dangers.
What To Do If You’ve Been Injured by a Defective Medical Device
If you’ve been injured by a defective medical device, the first thing that you should do is seek prompt medical treatment. The emergency room doctor, or your regular physician, will advise you on how to treat your medical symptoms.
After your immediate medical needs have been attended to it is important to contact an defective medical device attorney. The experienced defective medical device lawyers of Anapol Schwartz represent people who have been hurt, or who have lost loved ones, because of defective medical devices. Please contact us today for a free confidential consultation
