Patients in the Tampa Bay area who have received a heart defibrillator implant manufactured by Medtronic are strongly advised to consult their doctors, and possibly a Tampa personal injury attorney.

Medtronic recently announced that there could be a faulty wire attaching the defibrillator to the heart in a small percentage of their implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD). In layman’s terms, these faulty wires may cause unneeded jolts to the heart, heart damage, or death.

Minneapolis-based Medtronic disclosed in mid-October 2007 that their Sprint Fidelis wires, which went on the U.S. market in 2004, have fractured in more than 2 percent of the approximately 250,000 implanted worldwide, meaning the malfunction could affect about 5,000 people. These wires are an integral part of the ICD.

When working properly, an ICD sends a life-saving shock into the heart of a patient if the heart beats too fast. The shock, delivered through an implanted wire, is meant to save lives by restoring proper rhythm to the heart. If the Medtronic ICD is faulty, it could either deliver an unneeded shock or fail to deliver a shock at all.

Two years ago, Medtronic also had problems with the batteries in their defibrillators. Those battery failures caused more than 1,000 personal injuries to occur.

If you or a family member has a Medtronic ICD and you have been injured by a defective battery or faulty wiring, please call Clark and Martino, P.A., at 1-866-598-9111 for a free consultation with a Tampa personal injury attorney. We’ll discuss your rights to present a claim for your injuries.