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St. Jude Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators Lawsuit Lawyers

Parker Waichman LLP: Advocates for Victims of Defective Medical Devices   Cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators, or CRT-Ds, manufactured by St. Jude Medical, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, have risked the lives of thousands of people due to the lithium batteries that fail without warning. The lithium batteries create clusters which then shut the batteries down. […]

Parker Waichman LLP: Advocates for Victims of Defective Medical Devices

Advocates for Victims of Defective Medical Devices

 

Cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators, or CRT-Ds, manufactured by St. Jude Medical, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories, have risked the lives of thousands of people due to the lithium batteries that fail without warning. The lithium batteries create clusters which then shut the batteries down. The defibrillators cannot spring into action to correct a heartbeat or shock a stopped heart back to life.  People could die or suffer substantial physical and emotional injuries as a result of this critical failure. Moreover, undergoing surgery to replace the malfunctioning device can be risky and fraught with danger.

You would have valuable rights if your St. Jude CRT-D battery failed, leaving you with health complications, physical injury, emotional injury, and economic injury. Loved ones of a person who died when their St. Jude CRT-D battery failed may also have valuable rights. Consider the St. Judge CRT-D lawsuit lawyers from Parker Waichman LLP to represent you and your family’s interests. The medical device defect lawyers with Parker Waichman LLP have considerable experience bringing legal claims against major medical device manufacturers such as St. Jude Medical and Abbott Laboratories. To date, the firm has recovered over $2 billion in financial compensation for clients who were injured through no fault of their own. Do not trust your valuable rights to anyone else.

Basis for Legal Action

A cardiac resynchronization device helps the heart beat normally in patients who experience an arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat. An irregular heartbeat is one in which the two chambers of the heart do not beat in the same rhythm. The CRT-D implant sends electronic pulses to the heart to keep the heart beating at the same pace and correct any irregularity that emerges. The American Heart Association recommends using CRT-D devices in people who are experiencing heart failure.

In 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and St. Jude Medical issued a warning about the potential for battery failure in St. Jude’s CRT-Ds. The battery failures affected St. Jude’s CRT-Ds as well as their implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). The FDA alert indicated that the lithium batteries that power the CRT-Ds and ICDs drained within 24 hours after the device issued a signal that the battery was running low. That warning is called an elective replacement indicator or ERI. The device wearer has three months in which to replace the failing battery after the ERI goes off in a device that is working correctly. Three of St. Jude’s lines of CRT-Ds and ICDs were affected. Those product lines are the Fortify, Unify, and Quadra.

This situation is so severe that the FDA considered it life-threatening. As a result, the FDA issued a Class I recall for the device. A Class I recall is the most urgent recall for any medical device or medication. Additionally, the FDA recommended that:

  • Doctors stop using the affected devices immediately,
  • Treat patients whose ERIs go off in the emergency room,
  • Replace the instruments in which the ERI has sounded as soon as possible, and make sure that all patients have their ERIs activated and they have signed up for St. Jude’s remote alert system.

St. Jude’s defective CRT-Ds are a popular choice for heart patients worldwide. St. Jude sold over 400,000 of these units. Initially, 850 people required revision surgery and returned the devices. At the time of the first announcement, two people died from complications arising from the depleted batteries. One of the deceased was a resident of the U.S.

Many other people suffered various health problems from the faulty lithium batteries. A woman in Canada filed a class-action lawsuit against St. Jude and Abbott Laboratories claiming that she suffered from near fainting spells when her CRT-D battery failed. The class-action lawsuit alleges that 8,000 people in Canada have these problematic devices. Furthermore, another class-action lawsuit in Alaska argues that St. Jude has known about the battery problem for over five years before saying or doing anything about it.

Is there a time limit to my claim?

The time limit for filing a claim against Abbott Laboratories and St. Jude Medical is limited by law. This law is called the Statute of Limitations. Statutes of Limitations are found in each state’s laws and the length of time can vary from state to state. Filing a lawsuit stops the time from running. Typically, plaintiffs have three (3) years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit. Missing that deadline is fatal to your claim: you cannot recover for damages if you do not file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations runs out.

Each state has various exceptions to its statute of limitations. You need an experienced medical device defect lawyer from Parker Waichman LLP to protect your interests and prevent you from missing out on your claim.

What can a Parker Waichman CRT-D lawsuit lawyer do for you?

Parker Waichman’s St. Jude CRT-D lawsuit lawyers will do more for you than file a lawsuit to stop the statute of limitations from running out. They have litigated medical device defect cases against many large, international medical device manufacturers. That means they have the knowledge, experience, resources, and skill to pursue justice on your behalf aggressively. Patients should not worry about whether the device their doctor trusted with their life will work correctly.

Free St. Jude CRT-D Injury Case Review

Call Parker Waichman LLP today at 1-800-YOURLAWYER (1-800-968-7529) or use our contact form to schedule an appointment to meet with one of our St. Jude CRT-D lawsuit lawyers. They passionately pursue financial compensation for victims who have suffered physical, emotional, or economic damages including costs associated with medical care, past, and future medical expenses, and lost wages caused by their defective St. Jude CRT-D.

Our law firm has received numerous awards and accolades for quality legal work. Parker Waichman LLP has also obtained over $2 Billion in recoveries for their clients. Please visit our Client Testimonials and Verdicts and Settlements pages for further information about our happy clients and the successes we had on their behalf.

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