Consumer Law

Medtronic Has a Heart After All

By Joe Consumer

We have to say kudos to Medtronic Inc. and plaintiff?s lawyers for working out a $268 million settlement on behalf 8,100 victims of the company?s defective Sprint Fidelis heart defibrillator lead (wire) ? even though the company didn?t have to settle thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

You may recall that in 2008, the Supremes decided to immunize manufacturers of the most dangerous medical devices, like these defibrillator leads.  As a result of that case, Medtronic proceeded to get all of these cases dismissed in court.  So even though the company continued to fight the victims in court, the company decided to do the right thing and pay victims anyway.  Ya don?t see that every day!

As we?ve noted before, hundreds of thousands of people were surgically implanted with Medtronic?s defective defibrillator leads, which started to fracture in thousands of patients.  At least 13 people died.  Others were forced to live with severe shocks that could come at any time.  For example, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, ?Liz Fossum of Golden Valley is one of the plaintiffs who will get a portion of the impending settlement. Her defibrillator zapped her 54 times after her Sprint Fidelis lead malfunctioned. Fossum, now 70, eventually had the lead removed, but she says she's been emotionally scarred ever since.?

We note that the settlement will apparently make barely a dent in Medtronic?s bottom line. ?Defibrillators have been a major segment for Medtronic, which brought in $15.8 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year.?

Still, Charles Zimmerman, Chairman of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, called the settlement "an excellent example of what people can do when they act together to do the right thing for the public and for public health. I congratulate Medtronic and their Board of Directors for this agreement. And I congratulate all the plaintiffs and their counsel for staying the course and continuing to fight for what they believed was right."

Meanwhile, though, the Supreme Court decision immunizing these companies is still the law of the land  unless Congress fixes it.  It sure would be nice to see Metronic's lobbying force weigh in on the side of victims too, and support fixing a law that clearly is not right.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on October 15, 2010 (boomark / email).