Investigative Report Casts a Troubling Light on the Medical Device Industry

The consumer media has not been kind to the medical device industry this year. A consortium of journalists released an investigative report on the industry over the weekend that blames poorly regulated medical devices for millions of patient injuries and thousands of deaths. The report, which is based on a year-long investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), is the latest in a series of scathing reviews that have highlighted the darker side of medtech. According to the ICIJ report, more than 1.7 million injuries and nearly 83,000 deaths linked to medical devices have been reported to FDA over the last decade. The journalists also point out that medical devices pulled off the market in some countries over safety concerns remain for sale in other countries. The authors wrote that "medical implants sicken, maim and sometimes kill the very people they were designed to help," and that health authorities across the globe have failed to protect millions of patients from "poorly tested implants that can puncture organs, deliver errant shocks to the heart, rot bones and poison blood, spew overdoses of opioids and cause other needless harm." One of the industry's leading trade association has already pushed back against the ICIJ report, arguing that it fails to look at both the challenges and the accomplishments of the industry. “We should never discount any patient's experience. B...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Business Regulatory and Compliance Source Type: news