Posted on April 28, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week that the agency has filed a consent decree against a medical device manufacturer for repeatedly failing to correct identified violations related to an implantable drug infusion pump. A consent decree is a type of legal settlement in which the manufacturer agrees to follow the court-ordered directives without acknowledgement of fault or guilt. The decree will remain in force until regulators are convinced that the company has addressed and fixed the identified issues.

The SychroMed II Implantable Infusion Pump System is a device designed to deliver medication necessary for the treatment of cancer, chronic pain, and sever spasticity. Medtronic, the manufacturer of the device, says that more 230,000 patients have used a SynchroMed system since it was developed more than 25 years ago. However, inspections by the FDA in 2006 and 2013 identified "significant violations" of federal regulations, including issues related to handling complaints and corrective actions. A warning letter from the FDA in 2012 noted the devices' propensity to stall and subsequently fail to deliver the needed medication.

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 Posted on April 23, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

Every year, more than 7 million patients receive home health medical care under the direction of their medical providers. Many such cases require the use of medical devices in the home to treat or maintain a wide variety of conditions. The devices are put to use by the patient directly, or with the help of a caregiver or family member. While, to a certain extent, home health providers may be able to offer a degree of training in the proper utilization of a home-use medical device, federal regulators have expressed concern over the lack of a standardized labeling format for the devices.

Home-use medical devices include a wide range of equipment, including more simple things like canes and crutches, to more complicated items such as infusion pumps, glucose monitors, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there have increasing reports of adverse events related to medical devices used in the home, many of them related to the unavailability of the manufacturers instructions.

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 Posted on April 16, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

An influential health insurer trade group has called for more stringent rules related to the approval and tracking of medical devices. The request follows revelations of gaps or loopholes in the federal regulatory procedures which allow potentially dangerous medical devices to be put on the market with minimal safety and performance testing. In particular, the group referenced a medical tool used in performing hysterectomies which, despite being widely available, has been found to contribute to the spread of cancer in patients.

This week, America's Health Insurance Plans, an organization representing nearly 1300 health insurers who provide coverage for over 200 million Americans, sent a letter to United States Senator Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, citing the dangers discovered regarding laparoscopic power morcellators. Since the 1990s, morcellators have been used to remove fibroids, or benign uterine growths, frequently during hysterectomies. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that women undergoing such procedures may be at higher risk for a certain type of malignant cancer, and use of the devices can potentially spread the cancerous tissue and worsen the condition.

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 Posted on April 09, 2015 in Defective Drugs & Treatments

A state inspection of a pharmacy in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has led to the recall of more than 600 drugs in a variety of dosages and formulations, officials announced in late March. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy (NCBOP) have issued a warning to medical professionals and patients regarding all compounded drugs made or distributed by the Prescription Center pharmacy, which has been since shut down.

Compounded Drug Recall

The NCBOP said in a news release that it was recalling all nonsterile and sterile products that were compounded, repackaged, and distributed by the pharmacy from September 10, 2014 to March 10, 2015. The listing of recalled products includes antidepressants, antibiotics, antiviral medications, immunosupressants, and others which were distributed to all 50 states and Canada. “This recall is due [to] the pharmacy's inability to ensure sterility, stability, and potency for these products,” the Board of Pharmacy said. While no complaints of injuries have been received by the board, the NCBOP and FDA are advising clinicians to quarantine any products from the Prescription Center and not to administer them to human or animal patients.

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 Posted on April 07, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

When discussing the safety of medical devices or prescription drugs, it is not uncommon to hear about various recalls and safety alerts being issued. The announcement of a safety recall by manufacturers or government regulators may seem extremely ominous, but it is important to understand that a recall does not necessarily mean a product cannot be used at all. There are various types and levels of recalls, and the action required by each is often dependent on the danger related to the particular device or drug.

Recall Classes

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains three separate classes of recalls to be used appropriately based on the level of risk associated with the recalled item. A recall is categorized by the FDA as one of the following:

Class III Recall: Exposure to the device or drug is unlikely to result in adverse health consequences, but the product does not meet regulatory standards.

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 Posted on March 10, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

Defective medical devices are not limited to those implanted in a patient's body. Patients who must use canes, wheelchairs, or other devices to get around are susceptible to a whole array of device warnings and risks that other Americans are not. According to The Baltimore Sun, it is imperative to maintain wheelchairs and walkers as you would a car, as a lack of proper maintenance can result in unsafe conditions such as broken or bent parts. If the device is broken, it can result in the requirement of extra energy to get around, more pain, or—worst-case scenario—a devastating accident that can result in hospitalization.

The onus of maintaining these devices is not, however, solely the responsibility of the patient. Sometimes these devices, and machinery used in conjunction with them, are not properly built or vetted before it is put on the market. One such incident occurred earlier this year, when a California-based manufacturer was ordered to pay a $1.75 million civil penalty for continuing to sell faulty wheelchair lifts. The lifts were recalled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), according to an agency report, as they had been labeled as potential fire hazards. Even after the recall was announced, the manufacturer, Rincon Corporation, continued selling the lifts to the public.

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 Posted on March 03, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

When most patients go in for surgery—especially serious surgeries like knee replacements—they are not concerned with the materials that doctors use. Most patients trust that their doctor is the expert, and will do what is necessary to ensure that the patient can recover quickly and well. Yet sometimes shady business deals are at fault for surgeries gone wrong, and doctors are helpless to remedy them. Such is the case with a device that until very recently was used to aid with knee replacement surgery, the OtisKnee, distributed by OtisMed Corporation.

In December, according to The New York Times, the former CEO of OtisMed pled guilty in a New Jersey federal court to criminal charges of distributing adulterated medical devices. The OtisKnee was not cleared by the Food and Drug Administration before OtisMed began to distribute and sell the device to American hospitals, and 18,000 of the adulterated devices were sold and distributed between 2006 and 2009. The device was marketed as one that would speed knee surgery and aid in patient recovery, but many patients experienced the exact opposite. In one case, a woman experienced intense and lasting pain after the surgery, and ended up having to have a second knee replacement. Another patient said that the revelation that the device that had been used was likely at fault for her persisting knee problems made her feel like she "had been a guinea pig."

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 Posted on January 28, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

In what will likely be the first of many settlements to come, Johnson & Johnson has agreed to resolve claims from four Missouri women that its Ethicon Prolift vaginal mesh implant caused serious injuries.

The settlements came almost literally at the courthouse door, as jury selection was scheduled to begin in late January 2015. Since the controversy over these devices began in 2012, J&J consistently denied that these devices are dangerous. Nevertheless, it currently faces about 23,000 liability lawsuits. One observer noted that "it's only four cases, but it's a start. There's still a long way to go to get the whole thing resolved." A J&J spokesperson emphasized that the company did not admit or deny liability as part of the settlement terms and that "the company may consider whether settlement is appropriate" in individual cases.

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 Posted on January 27, 2015 in Defective Medical Devices

Sometimes a medical device meant to provide relief for patients suffering and expedite healing causes more pain than relief. One of these devices is known as a pain pump, most commonly used in patients recovering from shoulder surgery after a serious shoulder injury. According to the New York Times, these devices became popular in the late 1990s because they allowed patients to leave the hospital earlier while they received narcotic painkillers for recovery through the pump. While the pain pumps had received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA had never cleared the devices for use in joints.

It was not long until several young patients returned to their surgeons suffering from chondrolysis, a rare ailment in which the cartilage dies, precipitating the painful condition of a bone grinding on an adjacent bone. One orthopedic surgeon told the Times that he had lost many hours of sleep trying to figure out what was causing the chondrolysis before several medical studies identified pain pumps as a likely culprit.

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 Posted on January 22, 2015 in Defective Drugs & Treatments

Though the manufacturer has come under fire for defective devices in the past, this year the da Vinci Sp Intuitive single port robot system used in surgical procedures is expected to hit the consumer market, according to MedGadget.com. The system is designed to allow for single-incision surgeries, and is a competitor to manufacturing giant Titan. The system was first introduced as a prototype more than five years ago, but only received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year.

The first da Vinci Intuitive surgical robot was introduced more than a decade ago. When the company first went public, 15 years ago, it posted $10 million in annual sales, though the robot had only been used on 600 patients worldwide. The machine was thought by the medical professional community to be a great symbol of technological surgical advance, and, according to ModernHealthcare.com, “one of the most coveted status symbols of 21st-century medicine.” Yet the $2.3 million machine caused serious side effects and even injury in several patients, due to a disregard for patient safety on the part of the manufacturer and aggressive marketing tactics that often preceded patient testing.

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