Patricia Caplinger, the plaintiff in a product liability suit against Medtronic, has requested that the U.S. Supreme Court address her case involving the controversial Infuse device.
Caplinger, from Oklahoma, wants the justices to review an April decision by the U.S Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit that her state-law tort claims are preempted by federal law. Her argument, according to Mass Device, is that the claims she’s made go beyond preemption because the device, which has caused her many painful side effects, was implanted in a way not in fact approved by the FDA.
The implantation of the device occurred in August 2010. Caplinger had lumbar spinal fusion surgery. By the fall of that year her symptoms reportedly worsened, and she developed a foot-drop condition “resulting from exuberant bone growth caused by the use of Infuse,” according to her petition on September 11 of this year.
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That quickly progressed and led her to need knee surgery, then in 2011 another spine surgery, in which MRI and CT scans revealed “exuberant” bone growth reportedly caused by the Medtronic device.
Back in May, the 10th Circuit appeals court refused to re-hear Caplinger’s case – which was a year after Medtronic settled 950 product liability lawsuits that cost the company $22 million.
We shall see if Caplinger’s persistence pays off.
Feature Photo: Flickr user Michael Dorausch
