Do I have a case if a medical device or prescription drug caused my injury?
Yes, you may have a product liability claim. If a defective medical device, surgical implant, or prescription drug caused you harm, the manufacturer can be held responsible under California’s strict product liability laws. These cases often involve complex medical evidence and require lawyers with deep experience in pharmacology, medical device engineering, and FDA regulatory law. Our firm offers free, confidential consultations to evaluate whether your medical injury supports a viable claim.
What should I do after a medical product injury or complication?
Continue treatment with your healthcare providers and keep a detailed record of every appointment, procedure, prescription, and symptom. Request and preserve copies of your medical records, operative reports, pathology reports, and imaging. If possible, save packaging, lot numbers, or product identification information for any device, implant, or medication involved. Medical product cases turn on detailed medical evidence, and the records you preserve early often become the most important evidence in your case.
What if my medical device or drug was recalled or received an FDA warning?
A recall or FDA warning can strengthen your case and may be the first public indication that a product was dangerous. The FDA issues several types of warnings, including Class I, II, and III device recalls, drug safety communications, and black box warnings, and any of these can support a claim that the manufacturer knew or should have known about the product’s risks. You may still have time to file a claim even if your injury occurred years before the recall or warning was issued.
How do I prove that the medical product caused my injury?
Medical product cases require proof that the product’s defect was a substantial factor in causing your injury. This usually involves your medical records, imaging, pathology reports, and expert testimony from physicians and scientists who can connect the defect to your specific harm. Our firm works with leading medical experts to evaluate causation, and we do not pursue claims unless the medical evidence supports the connection between the product and the injury.
Can I still file a claim if I no longer have the device or medication?
Yes. Medical product cases rarely depend on the physical product itself, because the device may have been implanted, the drug consumed, or the explanted device sent to pathology. What matters is the medical record, which typically documents the specific product, manufacturer, lot number, prescription date, surgical date, and other identifying information. Our firm can help obtain medical records and other documentation needed to identify the product and connect it to your injury.
What if my doctor recommended or prescribed the medical product?
Under California’s learned intermediary doctrine, manufacturers of prescription drugs and medical devices have a duty to warn physicians about known risks, and physicians are generally treated as the learned intermediary between the manufacturer and the patient. When a manufacturer fails to disclose risks to the medical community, the manufacturer can be held responsible even when the doctor recommended the product. Our firm focuses on holding manufacturers accountable for product defects and inadequate warnings, not on pursuing claims against treating physicians.
Is my injury too minor to justify filing a medical product claim?
Medical product injuries are often more serious than they first appear. Mesh complications, implant failures, drug side effects, and other medical product injuries frequently lead to additional surgeries, chronic pain, infection, and long-term medical costs. If a medical product caused you harm, you have the right to understand your legal options, even if the injury seems minor at first. Many medical product cases involve cumulative or worsening injuries that develop years after the original procedure or prescription.
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for a medical product case?
There are no upfront costs. Our firm operates on a contingency fee basis, meaning we are only paid if we recover compensation for you. Our clients pay nothing unless we win or settle the case. We advance the cost of medical record collection, expert review, and litigation, and recover those costs only out of a settlement or verdict.
Should I contact the manufacturer or a lawyer first?
Always talk to a lawyer first. Do not sign anything from the manufacturer, the device company, or a sales representative until you receive legal advice. Manufacturers sometimes contact patients about explants, complications, or studies, and signing certain documents can compromise a future claim. Even if you have already spoken to the manufacturer, our firm can review what was said and advise on next steps.
How long do I have to file a medical product injury claim?
In California, the deadline depends on when you knew or should have known that the medical product caused your injury. This is called the discovery rule, and it is particularly important in medical product cases, where complications can develop months or years after the original procedure or prescription. Many of our clients first connect their symptoms to a defective product after seeing news of a recall or lawsuit. Do not assume you are out of time. Consult us to evaluate your situation.
Can I file a claim for my child who was injured by a medical product?
Yes. California gives minors longer deadlines to file claims, and a parent or legal guardian can file a lawsuit on behalf of a child injured by a defective medical product. These cases often involve pediatric medical devices, children’s medications, or products used during labor and delivery. Court approval is typically required for any settlement involving a minor. We handle pediatric cases with the urgency and care these injuries deserve.
Who can be held responsible for a defective medical product?
Liability for a defective medical product can extend beyond the manufacturer. Depending on the case, claims may also reach distributors, importers, and sales representatives who promoted off-label or unsafe uses of the product. Most medical product cases focus on the manufacturer because manufacturers control the design, testing, warnings, and FDA submissions for the product. Our firm investigates all potentially responsible parties when evaluating a medical product case.
What is a mass tort or MDL, and would my case be part of one?
A mass tort is a coordinated proceeding where many individual injury cases involving the same defective product are managed together for efficiency. Federal mass torts are often consolidated into a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, before a single judge for pretrial proceedings. Mass tort and MDL cases preserve each plaintiff’s individual claim and individualized damages, unlike a class action where all claims are resolved together. Many of the medical product cases our firm handles, including hernia mesh, breast mesh, and Bard PowerPort, are coordinated as MDLs.
What is the difference between a class action and a mass tort?
A class action consolidates many people’s claims into a single case, typically when the harm is similar and economic, such as the cost of a product that did not work as promised. A mass tort handles many individual injury cases together for procedural efficiency, but each plaintiff keeps their own case with their own medical facts, damages, and recovery. Medical product injuries almost always proceed as individual cases or mass torts rather than class actions, because each patient’s injury, treatment, and damages are different. See our Class Action FAQ for more information about class actions.
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