If you have been injured by a dangerous drug or medical device, it’s unlikely that your doctor or hospital is at fault. A hospital or doctor is only liable for injury if something they did contributed to your injury. For example, if your hip replacement device was installed incorrectly, you could sue for medical malpractice. However, if your medical providers did everything right and you suffered due to inherent dangers of the medical product, the manufacturer is at fault.
How a Manufacturer Can Be Held Liable for Your Injury
In most cases, it is the manufacturer of a medical device who is responsible for paying your injury costs. At the McGartland Law Firm, we don’t sue your doctor for a medical device injury—we sue the company who created, marketed, manufactured, and sold the item that caused you to suffer.
Medical device injuries are a special form of product liability claim. These claims can be made on the basis of many different types of negligence, including:
- Defective design. Some medical devices were doomed to fail from their earliest stages, maybe even before they were out of the planning phase. Your attorney should examine the device to determine if the device was unreasonably dangerous even before it was created.
- Defective manufacturing. Mistakes during manufacturing can create sharp edges, weaken components and lead to breakage, or increase the risk of poisoning due to harmful metals or other substances. If one party designed the device, another made the device, and another sold the device, all three may be held liable for causing your injury.
- Illegal or unethical marketing. Companies rely on marketing to get their drugs and medical devices to consumers. However, there are many tactics that can be used to mislead or deceive the public, including a failure to provide written warnings or claiming that the item performs better than another in its class. Some companies will even bribe doctors to recommend their products, and others may deliberately conceal their own clinical research if the data could affect sales.
