Product Liability:
Guidant Defibrillators and Pacemakers
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Guidant Defibrillators

On January 23, 2006, the Guidant Corporation announced that doctors should consider replacing about 19,300 cardiac pacemakers currently implanted in patients throughout the world.  This announcement is an extension of last July's pacemaker recall.  Guidant pacemakers produced between October 19, 1998 and Decemeber 5, 2000, were manufactured with faulty hermetic seals which could cause the products to fail.

Guidant acknowledged in a letter to heart physicians that a small percentage of its defibrillators made before 2003 contain a flaw that can short-circuit the device and disable it. The revelation came two months after a 21-year-old college student from Minnesota died when he suffered cardiac arrest, and his defibrillator failed to work because of a short-circuit.

The Indianapolis-based medical devices maker said there have been 26 reports of the defibrillator failing, including one recent death. Guidant said about 24,000 of the Ventak Prizm 2 devices are currently implanted worldwide and that the problem is with defibrillators manufactured before November 2002.

Guidant suggests that any patient with a Guidant defibrillator should consult with their physician if they have questions, particularly if they have recently received a defibrillation shock.

Guidant Pacemakers

On July 19, 2005, Guidant Corporation recalled several models of their pacemakers due to a potentially fatal flaw in nine of their popular lines of these devices. Guidant states that there have been 69 devices from these groups that have experienced some sort of failure. 78,000 Guidant pacemakers manufactured between 1997 and 2000 are suspected to have this defect with 18,000 still in use in the United States.

Potentially defective pacemaker lines include: PULSAR, PULSAR MAX, DISCOVERY, MERIDIAN, PULSAR MAX II, DISCOVERY II, VIRTUS PLUS II, INTELIS II and CONTAK TR.
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On June 17, 2005, Guidant Corp. said it was recalling cardiac defibrillators implanted in nearly 50,000 people worldwide because of a flaw that could cause it to malfunction.

If you or a loved one has suffered injury or fear potential complications as a result of a Guidant defibrillator, contact us to learn your legal options.

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Guidant Adds $45 Million to Defibrillator Settlement
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Boston Scientific Corp.'s Guidant unit agreed to pay at least $240 million to settle claims it hid defects in its heart defibrillators, $45 million more than a settlement proposed in July, people with direct knowledge of the accord said.
Guidant lawsuits settled for $195 Million
Hoping to close the book on a dark chapter, Boston Scientific said late Friday that it will pay $195 million to settle at least 4,000 patient claims involving recalled heart devices that were manufactured by a division based in Arden Hills.The agreement comes just more than two weeks before a scheduled trial in Minneapolis that would have been the first stemming from the tangle of litigation. Thousands of patients started suing back in 2005 after Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp. acknowledged problems with thousands of implantable cardiac defibrillators - heart devices that are designed to shock a failing heart back into rhythm.  
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