Court Rejects Claims of Floridians injured by Medical Products Liability

As Florida Lawyers we are truly disappointed by the current state of the law regarding the erosion of injured victims rights caused by the negligence of medical product manufacturers. A Federal Judge in Minnesota just dismissed cases brought by thousands of injured patients with heart-defibrillator wires which were proven to fracture, shock and sometimes kill patients .

The cases were dismissed because of a recent decision by United States Supreme Court which proclaimed that federal law pre-empts state based product-liability lawsuits, essentially preventing such cases. Therefore, in the absence of some new law passed by Congress, victims injured due to faulty medical products will be unable to file a lawsuit unless they can prove the medical company violated FDA regulations. This will certainly be a difficult, if not impossible, hurdle for injured patients to meet.

Unfortunately, given the efforts of medical manufacturers and drug makers, who have convinced lawmakers that federal regulations take precedent over state laws, the Supreme Court will probably soon also apply this pre-emption to drugmakers.