Thousands of people are injured in hospitals each year. Some of these injuries are the direct result of faulty medical equipment or equipment that is improperly maintained or operated. If you are injured while in the hospital because of defective or otherwise malfunctioning medical devices, the hospital may be held liable. In these unfortunate situations, the hospital is negligent if they failed to properly maintain the equipment or if they failed to properly train hospital staff in the operation of the equipment. Additionally, if the equipment has not been thoroughly screened or tested, the hospital may be liable if the equipment harms a patient.
In medical equipment lawsuits, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove that the hospital had control over the equipment or product up to its point of use. If a hospital staff member or doctor somehow modifies equipment prior to use, the hospital is likely not liable for any product malfunction. In those cases, the product manufacturer may be liable. If the hospital maintains control over the device, they bear the liability if it fails or otherwise causes injury.
In many cases, plaintiffs file suit against the hospital as well as the manufacturer of the medical device. As outlined earlier, actions against the hospital typically allege negligence. By contrast, actions against manufacturers of medical devices typically focus on product liability. These cases center on one of the following: defectively manufactured medical devices; medical devices with a defective design: or defectively marketed medical devices.
The legal and medical issues in medical device cases are complex .If you suffered injury from faulty medical devices, be sure to contact an experienced attorney. Lawyers who specializes in medical malpractice and product liability are your best advocates.
