Personal Injury Lawyer

There are a variety of treatment methods for diseases and conditions and they come in the form of medications that we pick up at the pharmacy with a prescription. However, as a personal injury lawyer from Eric Roy Law Firm can explain, there are others that don’t come in the form of a pill or liquid to be ingested, but rather as a physical material or piece of machinery that has to be implanted in the body by surgical means. 

Once the body has healed after the surgery, the person whose body houses the implant can not manipulate or reposition it. The proper functionality and placement needs to be to the proper standard from the get go so it can fulfill its purpose and improve the health of the host body. This isn’t always achieved though. Sometimes either the manner that it has been implanted or the device itself can be subpar resulting in adverse effects on the body. If one is experiencing injury because of this, they will want to file a lawsuit for a defective medical device case.

First thing one needs to do is to establish whether the injury is in the manner of product liability or medical negligence. Medical negligence is the case when the device is functionally and structurally sound, but the manner that it was surgically implanted was below the medical standard of care. However, if the surgical procedure was to standard and the device is somehow defective then it’s a product liability case. Knowing the difference between the two is paramount in making sure you file the lawsuit against the right entity whether it’s the medical provider or the device manufacturer.

In product liability, a device can be considered defective in three ways:

Design defect: which occurs when the product is structurally sound, but designed in a manner that it is dangerous. This is a rare event.

Manufacturing defect: Where the design is up to medical standards, but if manufactured in a way that it deviates from the design, resulting in the product not performing as it intended. This is the most common defect.

Marketing defect: Where the manufacturer fails to advertise enough warning or proper usage instruction. Without this information the medical provider can’t provide the full picture regarding the risks of the procedure leaving the patient unable to make an informed decision on whether to undergo the procedure.

Evidence of none of the above three defects suggest that the issue leans toward medical negligence and an attorney will need to obtain an affidavit of merit to attest to the validity of their claim alleging negligence on the part of the medical provider.