Latest law suit in a probable series of many

The Canadian lawsuit, filed by REKO Barristers and Rochon Genova LLP, is the latest lawsuit to be filed against the Medtronic, Inc. and Medtronic of Canada, Ltd.. The company recalled its defibrillator lead after discovering that the lead may fracture, causing patients' hearts not to receive an electrical shock when needed or to receive too many shocks when not needed. The company has said that the defective product, which it has stopped selling, may have caused five reported deaths.

Additional lawsuits have been filed against Medtronic in Minnesota and Puerto Rico and industry experts say that this may only be the beginning as Medtronic may have known about the defect long before it came forward and recalled the product. If that is the case, lawyers now have the task of finding out how much the company knew – and when they knew it.

Lack of required testing

Defibrillator devices are normally scrutinized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before being approved for sale on the market. However, only limited testing was required on Medtronic's Sprint Fidelis lead as it replaced an older version, the Sprint Quattro. According to the FDA, the differences in the leads were not significant enough to warrant additional testing. The FDA is now under fire for not doing enough to protect the public against defective products – especially in this case as the consequences could be deadly. However, in February 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Riegel v. Medtronics that patients injured by certain medical devices approved by the FDA cannot sue the product's manufacturer. As of August 2008, the Supreme Court's ruling is being challenged in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. If you think you may have been injured from Medtronic's Sprint Fidelis defibrillator lead, contact an attorney in your area to discuss your situation. Click here, to contact a Medtronic recall attorney whose practice focuses in this area of the law or to lean more about the Medtronic Recall.