We’re often conditioned to think that those who need implanted pacemakers or need implanted defibrillator leads are those of us who’ve lived a long life and are hoping to prolong that life for a few more years. If something goes awry, well, that person lived a long life. At least that’s what we tell ourselves.
What if it involves a kid, a 9 year old? A child isn’t the likeliest candidate for a Sprint Fidelis defibrillator lead or any other type of heart lead for that matter. Yet for his dad and mom, it doesn’t matter. They have a sick child whose life depends on that medical device. What if that child clings to life because of a heart defibrillator lead that doesn’t work. Imagine for a moment that is your child, what lengths would you go to protect the child? What if that child clung to life because of a heart defibrillator lead that didn’t work, how would you feel? That’s exactly what happened to one of my clients. Their precious child had a heart defect that required a defibrillator lead in order to live. It’s no longer a matter of legal arguments, it’s a matter of life and death. And, it’s your child. what would you do? The defibrillator lead, the Sprint Fidelis, doesn’t work, it has defects. In this particular case, the child’s heart had an irregular rhythm that required an electric shock to keep it in a normal rhythm. Yet the Sprint Fidelis cardiac defibrillator lead didn’t always send electric impulses when needed. As we now know, the Sprint Fidelis lead wire broke and therefore short-circuited so the parents took him back to the surgeon who decided to remove the implanted device. But they couldn’t remove it. He was flown to another city where specialists had to perform lengthy and delicate surgery to remove the defective lead replacing it with another medical device. The trauma of seeing their son suffer and cling to life has left both parents shaky. They try to sleep at night but can’t since their thoughts kept racing to what if this defibrillator lead doesn’t work? What if our son needs an electric shock but doesn’t receive it? What if? This is all the result of a medical device company continuing to sell a defective product. The surgeon who implanted the Sprint Fidelis lead didn’t know about the defect. The company, however, did know that the lead was prone to breakage. They just didn’t tell anyone about it. They didn’t want to hurt sales.
That’s often what it’s like practicing consumer justice law. People’s lives are in peril. You share in their pain. You suffer with them and you try to pursue justice.