The case

A Texas man had a Medtronic dorsal column stimulator (a device that provides pain relief with electrode stimulation) surgically implanted. However, the device began to malfunction – leaving him in severe pain.

His doctor surgically removed the device in early 2006 and it was sent to Medtronic for analysis. Rather than provide the patient with information on what went wrong, the company destroyed the device – which left the patient with no evidence in case he decided to sue the company for providing him with a defective device. Well, he sued anyway…

Allegations

According to the lawsuit, he sued Medtronic alleging that the product was "defectively designed, manufactured and/or marketed by the company." The suit also accuses the company of fraud, fraudulent concealment, negligence, gross negligence, malicious behavior and breaches of both express and implied warranties.

Those are a lot of allegations, but he wasn't done yet. He is also accusing the company of committing criminal acts through false, misleading and deceptive advertising about the safety of the product. He is seeking damages for medical expenses, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, loss of earnings, loss of family relations, loss of consortium and household services, property damage and lawyers' fees.

A company who's seen better days

As if the Texas lawsuit wasn't bad enough, the company's October defibrillator lead recall affects nearly 235,000 patients worldwide – 172,000 in the United States alone – which may have contributed to five deaths. Patients who have defective leads (Sprint Fidelis model numbers 6930, 6931, 6948 and 6949) may have to undergo risky surgery to replace the defective product.

The U.S. Supreme Court also recently declined to hear a case in which Medtronic appealed to the court saying that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and not Medtronic, should ultimately be liable for defects that arise in their products because the FDA has final say on product approvals.

All this and a 25% drop in their stock price in just over a week since the recall, the company has surely seen better days.