Questions About Michigan Defective Medical Devices | FAQs & Answers

A medical device is an instrument, apparatus, machine, implant, or similar piece of technology used to treat, monitor, or diagnose a disease or medical condition. They are designed and manufactured by medical technology and engineering firms and prescribed by physicians. They range from tiny implanted devices to large imaging systems, like and MRI machine. However, the most common reference to a medical device involves a replacement to a body structure, like a hip, or a computer type device.

The term medical devices consist of a wide range of products. Examples include:

• Pacemakers,
• IVC Filters,
• Hip implants,
• Knee implants,
• Hernia mesh,
• Vaginal mesh, and
• Intrauterine Devices (IUD).

These are devices implanted into a patient’s body.  Other devices are used outside the body to treat the patient.  These include surgical lasers, power morcellators, and imaging machines.

Medical devices should not cause dangerous side effects or complications.   They are presumed to be safely manufactured for use on patients.  However, many devices have issues and actually cause serious harm to the patient.

When a medical device causes injury, the device manufacturer may be held legally responsible for the damages suffered by the patient.  Quite often, a large number of patients experience the same or similar injuries from a defective device.  Those people can sue the device maker for their injuries.

Some defective medical device cases are filed as individual cases.  Others are filed as a class action lawsuit. Your lawyer will determine the best lawsuit for you.

A class action lawsuit is when a case is filed for a group of people who suffered similar injuries from the same medical device.  These cases have strength in numbers and can result in a large class action settlement.  The settlement money is then divided up between the lawsuit claimants based upon the level of their injury.

Other medical device lawsuits are filed individually for each patient, but consolidated as a part of a large multi-district litigation (MDL).  This provides for efficiencies because a large number of claims are in front of a single judge.  However, each Plaintiff has his or her own unique claim which is determined solely on the merits of the claim.

Almost all defective device cases are filed in court.  Once in court, the attorneys for the parties litigate the key legal and medical issues.  If the judge does not dismiss the case, there is often either a trial on a few cases or the initiation of a settlement process.

The likelihood of your individual case going to trial is low.  Out of thousands of cases, attorneys hand pick a few to take trial.  Or, if there is simply a settlement claims process then no cases officially go to court for a jury trial.

You could always try to submit your own medical device claim.  However, these cases are costly, time consuming, and require significant legal expertise.  The best thing to do is hire a qualified and experienced medical device lawyer to handle your case from start to finish.

Almost all attorneys who handle these cases represent their clients on a percentage of the settlement basis.  This is also called a contingency fee.  The claimant does not have to pay any money to hire the lawyer or pay any of the costs of the case.  If there is a settlement, the attorney is paid a percentage of the settlement for a fee at the end of the case.