People use medical devices to better their health, but sometimes suffer injuries instead. When injuries from a defective medical device lead to a product liability claim, contact an experienced Phoenix personal injury law firm who can guide you through the complicated process.
Medical Devices Defined
Medical devices include any type of instrument or piece of equipment used in your medical treatment. They can range from the simplest devices, like tongue depressors, to the most complex, like defibrillators. Over the years, numerous medical devices have come up against legal trouble due to a perceived defect.
Some of these devices include:
- Defibrillators/Pacemakers
- Hip implants
- Drug-coated stents
- IVC blood clot filters
- Transvaginal mesh implants
- Insulin pumps
- Infusion ports
- Surgical robots
- Contraceptive/birth control devices
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all medical devices to protect the public from potentially dangerous medical devices. If a device is deemed defective after it hits the market, the FDA may issue a medical device recall. The FDA’s regulatory authority also encompasses potentially dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.
Product Liability Claims
Medical devices may be eligible for product liability claims, if found defective in its manufacturing process, design or marketing strategy.
- Defectively manufactured medical devices improperly fabricated or damaged/comprised in some way during the manufacturing process. However, the defect or damage could have occurred at any point between the manufacturing facility to the place you received the device.
- Defectively designed medical devices properly manufactured, but the design itself poses an unreasonable danger that could result in injury. These defects not due to an error or mishap during the manufacturing process but arise because the entire line of products is inherently dangerous.
- Defectively marketed medical devices involve failure-to-warn claims. While the device manufactured properly and was not considered inherently dangerous, an injury occurred because the patient was not provided with adequate or accurate warnings about the potential danger posed by the device or given adequate instructions about the safe and appropriate use of the device.
Damages & Responsible Parties
When an injury from a dangerous product prompts you to pursue a product liability claim, your personal injury attorney will likely file a lawsuit for damages. There are various types of damages, but the two basic categories all damages fall under are compensatory damages and punitive damages.
Compensatory damages attach a monetary value to your injury based on your economic and non-economic losses. Courts consider economic losses actual monies paid or lost due to your injury, such as medical expenses or lost wages. Non-economic losses are less tangible and include issues like pain and suffering and loss of consortium.
Typically, you will only receive compensatory damages, but in some cases, you may receive punitive damages. For example, if your defective medical device attorney can prove the manufacturer knew of the danger posed by the medical device, but deliberately concealed this danger or delayed removing it from the market, you may receive a punitive award as punishment to the manufacturer for malicious or intentionally reckless behavior.
The statute of limitations in Arizona is two years for product liability claims, including defective medical devices. Unlike medical malpractice claims only made against a health care professional, make product liability claims against the manufacturer, testing laboratory, medical sales representative, doctor, hospital or clinic and/or retail supplier.
Hire Top Defective Medical Device Attorneys
The experienced defective medical device attorneys at Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys can help you get the compensation you deserve. We offer free consultations and our legal team accepts most defective medical device claims on a contingency basis. This means you only pay a fee when we win your case. Visit our office from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., use our online LiveChat feature, or call us anytime at 844-977-1900 to discuss your claim today!
The information on this blog is for general information purposes only. Nothing herein should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.