Immunity for Medical Device Makers Could Cost Medicare Over a Billion Dollars

In a blog at FairWarning.org, Jill Replogle wrote, "Medicare could be stuck paying more than $1 billion for monitoring and replacement of faulty pacemakers, according to a statistical analysis commissioned by a group of plaintiffs lawyers. The report says the cost to taxpayers results from the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic, which greatly limited the legal exposure of manufacturers when FDA-approved medical devices were later found to be defective." The proposed Medical Device Safety Act, which "would expand liability for manufacturers of faulty medical devices," is supported by the American Association for Justice.