Defibrillators - Pacemakers - Stents - Baxter Pumps
Thousands of patients have been injured over the years by malfunctioning medical devices. These defective or problematic devices range from stents, Guidant defibrillators and pacemakers to hip replacements and Baxter medicine pumps. Sometimes a device-related injury, even death, can occur during an implant procedure while in other instances an injury can go undiscovered for years.
If you had a loved one who died because of a defective medical device, you may need an attorney with the experience to handle a potential lawsuit. Kline & Specter, PC, based in Philadelphia and with more than 50 lawyers (several of them also highly regarded doctors) has successfully litigated many product liability and mass tort cases, particularly in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. We have handled a number of cases involving patients who used Guidant Corp. and Medtronic Inc. products. Click here to contact an attorney.
Pacemakers
Guidant announced that it was recalling 170,000 Insignia and Nexus pacemakers due to malfunctions. The devices were subject to sudden loss -- both intermittent and permanent -- of pacing output or loss of telemetry without warning. Learn more...
Defibrillators
Guidant and Medtronic have acknowledged problems with cardiac defibrillators implanted in patients. Guidant in June 2005 voluntarily recalled almost 50,000 of the devices because certain models contained a flaw that caused some units to short-circuit and malfunction, resulting in at least two reported deaths and potentially many more. Learn more...
Stents
Two types of stents have come under scrutiny -- drug-eluting stents made by Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson and the Ancure endograft, whose sales have already been halted by manufacturer Endovascular Technologies.
There is concern that the drug-coated stents may cause blood clotting and resulting heart attacks. Some physicians and studies estimate that the widely used stents -- millions have been used in recent years -- may kill more than 2,000 Americans a year.
The Ancure endograft has produced more than 2,600 complaints and has been linked to at least 28 deaths. The device is produced by Endovascular Technologies, a subsidiary of Guidant Corp., which pleaded guilty in June 2003 of concealing the vast majority of reported problems with its stent from the government. Sales of the device have been halted. Learn more about stents ...
Baxter Medicine Pumps
Some 255,000 Baxter Healthcare Corp. pumps were recalled in July 2005 because the intravenous pumps can inadvertently shut down, depriving patients of needed medicine.
Kline & Specter, PC, has had excellent results with lawsuits involving defective products, especially those filed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware but also others across the nation. (See our Major Victories.)
