Every medical device, including life-saving ones, requires specialized designs. Each device that helps keep blood flowing, improves your mobility, and makes daily life easier is also under constant reassessment. As these tools improve, however, there’s a chance that a product will be defective upon release.
What’s more, medical professionals who are overworked or undertrained may not know how to use the tools they have at their disposal. Either of these parties can cause you or your loved one to endure a significant injury.
You can take action in cases involving a defective medical device. The Morelli Law Firm’s defective medical device lawyers in Passaic, NJ, can represent your best interests in and out of court.
Calculating Your Damages After a Defective Medical Device Injury
Defective medical devices do more than worsen your health. Before you challenge a defect in court, hospitals can send you bills that put you in substantial medical debt. The silver lining to these bills is that you can include them – along with other economic and non-economic costs – in the compensation you ask for if you take your case to court.
You can begin collecting receipts for your losses before you ever set foot in an attorney’s office. Once you’ve had your first case evaluation, though, we can look to precedent to determine what your case’s compensation might look like. In general, your complaint may include losses like the cost of:
- Your initial treatment
- Upcoming surgeries needed to treat your condition
- Replacement devices
- Medications for pain management
- Physical therapy and/or counseling
You can take your calculations a step further by valuing your pain and suffering, alongside other non-economic damages. Medical device precedent throughout New Jersey can help you assign a dollar value to these losses.
Taking Your Estimated Defective Medical Device Compensation to Court
Once you’ve established an estimate of your losses, you need to present that estimate to your local courts. Complaints can help you get the job done. You need to draft a complaint if you want to pursue any manner of defective medical device injury.
Fortunately, you’re not committing to a trial when you draft a complaint. Rather, you’re establishing liability and presenting your estimated compensation for judicial consideration. A defective medical device lawyer in Passaic can help you both draft your complaint and clarify its intentions when speaking with a county clerk.
Passaic Defective Medical Device Lawyer Near Me 877-751-9800
Who to Hold Liable for Your Injuries
There are a few different parties that may be liable for your losses in a defective medical device case. Manufacturers, to start, may have inappropriately made the device meant to help protect your health. Alternatively, they may have advertised the product incorrectly or encouraged an error on the production line.
They’re not the only ones who can be liable for your losses, though. If you have to go through a pharmacy to receive the product you need, entire chains can bear the responsibility for your well-being.
Similarly, medical professionals who break or inappropriately use the device you need may be responsible for your losses. In all these cases, you’ll want to bring a defective medical device suit against an entire institution – a hospital, a pharmacy, or a manufacturer – when filing your claim.
Filing a Defective Medical Device Claim Within New Jersey’s Statute of Limitations
In some cases involving a defective medical device, your losses can qualify you for a medical malpractice claim. According to N.J. Stat. § 2A:14-2, you must file your complaint within two years. Your complaint will need to cite instances of medical neglect, recklessness, or both if you want a county clerk to carry your case forward.
Alternatively, claims brought against a pharmacy or manufacturer may qualify as product liability cases. Here you can turn to N.J. Stat. § 2A:58C-2. According to New Jersey’s statutes of limitations, you’ll have two years to present your case via complaint.
That said, product liability cases are less flexible than medical malpractice cases. The deadline for a medical malpractice suit can begin either on the day a device injury occurs or on the day that said injury is discovered. Product liability deadlines begin on the day you suffer injury. You can talk to a Passaic, NJ, defective medical device attorney to establish your deadline.
Reacting to Defective Medical Device Settlement Offers from Liable Parties
Companies that have released defective medical devices may issue product recall before you file your suit. In turn, these parties can offer you a settlement before you’ve had time to consult with an attorney.
Fortunately, most settlement offers don’t come with deadlines. If you do receive a settlement offer from a hospital, pharmacy, or manufacturer, you can share it with our team. We’ll calculate the value of your losses on our own and compare the two numbers.
When it comes time to return to negotiations, you can rely on us to request the maximum financial support for your case.
Our Attorneys Can Represent You Throughout a Defective Medical Device Trial
Even if you want to avoid a defective medical device trial, there may come a point where going to court proves more effective than negotiations. To prepare for a defective medical device trial, our team will:
- Break down the discovery process
- Manage your communications with the liable party
- Prepare answers to questions posed during examination and cross-examination
When it comes time to go before a judge, we’ll prepare your opening statement and highlight your losses. At the same time, a defective medical device lawyer in Passaic, NJ, can gather witnesses to back your claim. These contacts can include third-party medical professionals who can elaborate on your treatment-related injuries.
At the end of the trial process, both a judge and jury will weigh in on your condition. In these cases, you have the opportunity to receive punitive damages on top of the compensation you asked for – awards that you wouldn’t receive if you addressed your case via negotiations.
Schedule Your Defective Medical Device Case Consultation
Establishing liability in a defective medical device case isn’t always easy. Neither is challenging a manufacturer or medical institution in court. That’s why we don’t let you do either alone. Anyone who’s suffered an injury due to a defective medical device can call on Morelli Law Firm’s defective medical device attorneys in Passaic for guidance.
You can reach our office over the phone or through our online form. The sooner you reach out, the sooner we can schedule your case evaluation.