When medical devices or equipment fail, product liability lawsuits are often filed in order to recover from the victims or victims in class action. Medical and technical expert witnesses have always disputed who is to blame: negligent product formulation, negligent product manufacture, negligent labeling, negligent dispensing, or negligent usage. But a cardiology product liability case has galvanized healthcare providers into raising the fundamental question about medical safety and the law: who should be held accountable when a company sells a flawed product that can injure or kill patients? Is it the company or the people who run it?
The legal case that grew from the cardiologist's revelations involves heart defibrillators once made by the Guidant Corporation, which is now a division of Boston Scientific. Guidant continues to sell the devices even after it discovered that some might short-circuit and fail. The defibrillators, which are known to life saving devices, have been associated with at least six deaths, including that of a 21 year old patient.
A federal judge will soon consider an agreement with Guidant in which the company would plead guilty to two criminal misdemeanors and pay a $296 million fine. While the Justice Department is hailing this outcome, the cardiologists aren't, because nobody is being held accountable. Read about the actions these cardiologists are taking to bring the people who run Guidant to justice.
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