Imagine experiencing problems with a knee or hip, or other parts of your body. You speak with a medical professional about what options you have. They prescribe a medical device, and you go through with the procedure expecting it to improve your quality of life. What happens when the device doesn’t work as it should? Even worse, what recourse do you have if the solution you hoped for causes more harm than good? Do you have the right to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer, the surgeon, or another party over a defective medical product?
The Kansas City defective medical device attorneys at Peterson & Associates, P.C. believe you do, and have helped hundreds of other clients in your position secure not only fair compensation but also justice. Here’s what you should know.
Why Victims of Defective Medical Products File Claims
There are approximately 5,000 medical devices in use at any given time, whether specific types of physicians’ tools and medical systems to body implants and insulin pumps. Medical devices fail for a multitude of reasons. Here are some of the most common:
- Failure in human factor research
- Improper design
- Poor manufacturing practices and lack of quality control
- Using non-compliant accessories
- International labeling norm violations
- Reusing devices
- Insufficient maintenance
- Stress overload
- Systemic failures at the hospital
Sometimes, such as the case with IVC filters to reduce blood clots or metal-on-metal hip replacement devices, there’s a breakdown of material for various reasons, requiring additional surgery for immediate retrieval—and then another type of device solution to remedy the first problem. These and other complications are frustrating and costly, and introduce even more health risks into someone’s life.
The Right to Pursue Compensation
When you sustain damages because of a defective medical device, you have the right to take legal action against a manufacturer, supplier, distributor, and even a medical facility and health care personnel. While these cases often award large amounts of compensation, they’re incredibly detailed and complex.
You need a legal team that understands how to uncover the evidence that reveals the line of liability, which might go all the way back to a design flaw that a manufacturer knowingly passed over. With thorough investigation, you have a greater chance of achieving both financial recovery and justice.