This month in our news section, we covered a Virginia defective medical device story that involved heart defibrillators with faulty wiring - and in the past five years, hundreds of thousands of defibrillators and pacemakers have been recalled by medical device companies across the country. Could your heart defibrillator or pacemaker be defective?

Implantable defibrillators are designed to sense irregular heart beats and send small shocks to the organ to return it to a normal rhythm. Millions of Americans who have either already suffered a heart attack or who have a history of irregular heart beats live every day with pacemakers or internal defibrillators.

Unfortunately, heart defibrillators and pacemakers have a long history of medical product recalls.

• In 2006, 50,000 Boston-Scientific pacemakers were recalled due to sometimes-fatal defects and malfunctions.
• In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration recalled 84,000 Guidant Pacemakers after hundreds of patients reported faulty wiring and other issues. Seven different models were recalled, including the Contak Renewal and Renewal 2; the Ventak Prizm AVT; Vitality AVT; Renewal 3 AVT; and Renewal 4 AVT ICD
• In 2005, Medtronic issued a statement to doctors and medical professionals warning of battery failures and battery depletion in two types of their defibrillators.
• In 2007, Medtronic voluntarily suspended its distribution of Sprint Fidelis defibrillation leads after five confirmed deaths were caused by fractures.

In some cases, the defibrillators can cause inappropriate, lethal shocks to those using them. In other cases, defibrillators can simply stop working - with no way for the patient to know he or she is no longer protected. The failure rate of these devices have been estimated at being one percent to ten percent - a frightening statistic for those struggling with cardiac issues.

If you believe that you or a loved one has suffered from a defective heart defibrillator or pacemaker, it is vital that you contact an experienced defective medical device lawyer.