Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Medical Device Safety Act Hearing Scheduled in Sentate Today

August 4, 2009 - The Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee will hold a hearing at 2:30pm (ET) today titled, "Protecting Patients from Defective Medical Devices". The hearing is being held to discuss the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009. This Act, if passed, will undue the Supreme Court's ruling in the Riegel case last year. Basically, the Riegel ruling prevents people injured by defective medical devices from being able to file a lawsuit to recover damages caused by the device.

The committee will hear from the following people at the hearing today:

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