Rosa v. Taser Int’l, Inc.: keeping hindsight bias out of failure-to-warn claims *

USA - August 9 2012
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has provided medical device manufacturers some potent ammunition in their ongoing efforts to keep hindsight bias from infecting the scope of their constructive knowledge in failure-to-warn claims.

Stengel v. Medtronic, Inc.: the Riegel/Buckman gap narrows in the Ninth Circuit *

USA - May 22 2012
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has further curtailed the universe of state law claims pertaining to Class III medical devices that are neither expressly preempted by Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 552 U.S. 312, 315 (2008) nor impliedly preempted by Buckman Co. v. Plaintiffs’ Legal Committee, 531 U.S. 341, 349-50 (2001).

Medical Device Patient Safety Act proposes two-step change to oversight of devices *

USA - February 16 2012
In mid-December of 2011, following the recommendation of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Medical Device Patient Safety Act.