Posted on January 19, 2006 | Indy Star
Widow Files Suit Against Guidant
Case alleges fraud for not telling patients of defibrillator defects
By Jeff Swiatek
The widow of a former Indianapolis businessman who used a Guidant defibrillator to treat his heart failure sued the company for fraud for not telling users about defects.
The lawsuit apparently is the first local case involving the death of a user of one of the Guidant defibrillators recalled last year for defects, said Indianapolis attorney John R. Price, who filed the case. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
Indianapolis-based Guidant faces more than 120 lawsuits from U.S. patients over its defective defibrillators, but fewer than a dozen involve deaths, Price said. Many of the defibrillator cases are consolidated in federal court in Minneapolis .
The new lawsuit by Linda M. Garrison, filed in federal court in Indianapolis , says her husband, Bernard C. Garrison, got a Guidant implantable defibrillator in 2001, hoping it would stabilize his failing heart. Instead, over the next 31/2 years, he made numerous trips to his doctors and emergency rooms for continual heart problems, according to the lawsuit.
"It just seemed like things were getting worse from the time we had it in," Linda Garrison said.
After Guidant issued a product recall last June for the Ventak Prizm model defibrillator, which Garrison used, he had it surgically replaced with one made by another company. His heart's functioning didn't improve, and he died Dec. 23 at age 63, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, charging Guidant with fraud, negligence, breach of warranty and other claims, suggests Garrison's defibrillator was one of the ones with a short-circuiting problem that led to the recall. "The Guidant (device) did not function properly throughout its implantation in Mr. Garrison and failed to properly pace and/or defibrillate his heart," the lawsuit says.
Guidant found out about the defect in its Ventak Prizms in 2002 but didn't tell doctors and patients until the recall notice went out three years later, the lawsuit alleges.
The battery-powered device, which works by giving electrical jolts to the heart, couldn't be checked for defects because the doctor who removed the device in August at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis wouldn't turn it over, according to the lawsuit.
Bernard Garrison had a criminal history that included being sentenced in 1998 to two years in prison for bank fraud and in 1985 to 10 years in prison for bankruptcy fraud, tax evasion and racketeering. Price said Garrison's criminal record has no bearing on the case against Guidant.
Guidant spokesman Steve Tragash did not return a call for comment on the case.
Guidant is the focus of an intense takeover battle between Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson. The winner will inherit the defibrillator lawsuits.
Contact an Experienced Guidant Lawyer
If you or your loved one uses Guidant brand Pacemakers and Defibrillators, you could be in serious danger. Consult your doctor immediately if you are experiencing any side effects and then contact our Guidant lawyers right away.
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