Medical Device Safety Act Hearing before the Senate HELP Committee

Tomorrow we will hear from the following people regarding the Medical Device Safety Act, at at hearing before the Senate HELP Committee entitled, "Protecting Patients from Defective Medical Devices,":
- William H. Maisel, MD, MPH, Director, Medical Device Safety Institute,Beth Israel, Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Professor Thomas O. McGarity, Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, University of Texas School of Law, Austin, TX
- Michael Mulvihill, Patient, Bettendorf, IA
- Peter Barton Hutt, Esq., Senior Counsel in Food and Drug Law, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC
- Michael Roman, Patient, Kirkwood, MO

For those who are not aware, the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009 will restore patients rights to sue a manufacturer of a faulty / defective medical device when they have been injured. The current state of the law provides a 'Get out of jail for free' card to device manufacturers so long as their device is FDA-approved. Without this law, patients will have no recourse for their injuries, and the cost will be shifted to taxpayers for medical bills, among other things. Medical device manufacturers should be accountable for their products, and allowing lawsuits will ensure that device manufacturers put the safest products on the market. We've learned from many other product liability lawsuits that large companies many time put profits over people. A Lawsuit is just one of the many mechanisms that will provide adequate checks and balances.

The hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m. on August 4, 2009 in SD-430.