Defective Medical Products Class Actions

Medical technology has allowed incredible advances in the detection, prevention, and treatment of illness, improving the quality of life for countless people. The medical devices that have offered these benefits range from simple bandages to complex diagnostic machines. Because of the extent of these benefits, we have come to rely on medical technology to a significant degree, and therefore we must trust the reliability of the companies that design, manufacture, and sell medical devices. When a company puts a dangerous or defective medical device into the marketplace, it may be liable for injuries caused by that device. In situations where a defective medical device causes similar injuries to a large number of people, they may seek relief through class action litigation. The Chicago defective medical product lawyers at Nationwide Consumer Rights can help consumers who have suffered injuries due to product defects.

Defective Medical Devices

“Medical device” refers to any product used in the course of providing medical care. Increasingly sophisticated devices may elevate the risk of product defects or errors, but defects in any sort of medical device can cause injuries to consumers. Medical devices that may bear dangerous defects include:

• Hip implants and other joint replacements;
• Vaginal mesh implants;
• Breast implants and other cosmetic surgery devices;
• Heart valves;
• Pacemakers;
• Infusion pumps and other devices used to deliver medications;
• X-ray machines;
• Ultrasound machines; and
• Biopsy equipment.

Products Liability Law

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the production and marketing of medical devices, typically requiring that manufacturers include certain disclosures and warnings with their products. State and federal consumer protection laws also impose liability on companies or individuals that design, manufacture, distribute, or sell dangerous or defective products to the public. In order to recover damages for injuries caused by a dangerous or defective product, a consumer must show that they were using the product correctly at the time of the injury, and that the injury was a reasonably foreseeable result of correct use of the product. Types of defects that may allow a consumer to recover damages include a marketing defect, in which the seller of a product failed to warn about reasonably foreseeable hazards; a manufacturing defect, meaning an error that occurred during production that created a dangerous condition; or a design defect, which might make a product inherently unsafe.

Defective Medical Device Class Actions

In some cases, a defective medical product may cause injury to a large number of people, who may benefit from joining their claims in a class action lawsuit. Class actions are available to groups of people with substantially similar legal claims. They offer a means of obtaining relief for consumers who might not be able to devote the time and resources to an individual claim for damages caused by a defective medical product.

Based in the Chicago area, the defective medical product lawyers at Nationwide Consumer Rights have decades of experience representing plaintiffs in claims for violations of consumer protection statutes and other civil claims. We have dedicated our practice to protecting the rights of consumers around the country. To schedule a free and confidential consultation with one of our Chicago defective medical product attorneys, contact us today online or at 630-333-0000.