Hearing Tomorrow On Medical Device Safety Act of 2009 | DC Metro Area Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, Esquire

The Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing tomorrow regarding The Medical Device Safety Act of 2009.   This is an important piece of legislation that should become law. We encourage our readers to contact their representatives in Congress and urge them to vote in favor of the bill.

The Medical Device Safety Act of 2009 is important for two principal reasons.  First, it will allow every American patient to hold manufacturers of defective medical devices accountable for injuries and deaths caused by unsafe products.  It will also prevent the manufacturers of defective devices from receiving total immunity from any claims simply because the devices were previously approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

On March 19, 2009, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine endorsed the Medical Device Safety Act. They stated:

“Patients and physicians deserve to be fully informed about the benefits and risks of medical devices, and the companies making the devices should be held accountable if they fail to achieve this standard. We urge Congress to swiftly pass this legislation and to allow lawsuits by injured patients, which have been an important part of the regulatory framework and very effective in keeping medical devices safe, to proceed in the courts.”

The New York Times has also endorsed the bill.

Medical devices can be extremely dangerous, and the FDA often does a poor job screening defective products from the public.  If your doctor wants to insert a medical device into your body, ask questions to be sure your physician has sufficiently investigated the device’s safety and effectiveness.

Many Americans are killed or injured each year by defective devices.  For more information about your legal rights, please contact the law firm of Regan Zambri & Long, PLLC  at (202) 463-3030.