Practice Areas Personal Injury Defective Medical Devices

Injury Attorneys Representing Victims Throughout South Florida

Recent advances in medical technology have allowed physicians to help patients who previously would have lacked options for seeking relief. For example, many physicians surgically install medical devices that often allow patients to heal and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, however, some medical devices are not properly studied prior to being approved for use, and latent defects in untested products can cause significant harm. If you suffered injuries due to a defective medical device, it is in your best interest to speak to an attorney regarding your options for pursuing damages. The Boca Raton medical device injury lawyers at The Grife Law Firm are dedicated to helping people injured by unsafe products seek compensation for the pain and financial losses that they have suffered.

Defective Medical Devices That Frequently Cause Harm

Numerous medical devices have defects that could potentially harm unwitting patients. For example, DePuy, Stryker, and Smith & Nephew hip replacements, as well as many other hip replacements, have been recalled due to defects that can cause the failure of the replacement, corrosion, and the release of metal debris into the bloodstream. Similarly, transvaginal mesh and hernia mesh often erode, causing infections, pain, and recurrence of symptoms, which may lead to additional surgeries. Additionally, many devices used to treat heart conditions, such as pacemakers, stents, and artificial valves, cause grave harm when they fail, such as stroke, pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrest, and death.

Proving Liability for Injuries Caused by Defective Medical Devices

Generally, when a person is harmed by a defective medical device, liability for the harm lies with the company that manufactured the device. In Florida, when a person is harmed by a defective medical product, the manufacturer of the product may be held strictly liable. In other words, a medical device injury attorney in Boca Raton does not need to prove that the manufacturer acted recklessly or with a lack of care. Instead, to prove liability, the plaintiff needs to establish that the medical device was defective, the defect existed at the time that the product left the manufacturer’s control, and the defect caused the plaintiff’s harm.

Under Florida law, an injured person alleging harm caused by a defective medical device must prove that the defect arose in the design, manufacturing, or marketing of the product. A design defect occurs when the manner in which a medical device was designed renders it inherently unsafe for its intended purpose. In contrast, a manufacturing defect arises when an error occurs during the manufacturing process that causes a product that is safe by design to be unsafe. Lastly, a marketing defect occurs when a manufacturer fails to provide adequate warnings regarding the risks associated with the typical use of the product.

Typically, whether a medical device is defective is beyond the understanding of the average juror. Thus, a Boca Raton medical device injury attorney may need to rely on an expert to describe to the jury how the product was defective and explain the way in which the defect caused the injured person’s harm. This is permitted by Florida Statutes Section 90.702, which states that if technical or scientific knowledge will assist a juror in understanding the evidence presented or determining a fact at issue, a witness who is qualified as an expert due to his or her experience, training, knowledge, skills, or education may offer opinion testimony regarding the evidence or fact. The expert’s opinion must be based on data or facts, however, and it must be a product of reliable methods and principles that the expert reliably applied to the facts of the case.