Call Now: 404-448-2806

The Olson Law Firm, LLC
404-448-2806
Protecting Clients’ Future Well-Being After An Accident Or Injury For Over 25 Years

Attorney Erik H. Olson

Georgia Defective Medical Device Lawyers: Holding Manufacturers Accountable

You trusted a medical device to heal you—instead, it’s destroying your life. Across Georgia, thousands of patients face devastating complications from defective hip replacements, toxic hydrogel implants, failing heart valves, and dangerous surgical mesh that their doctors assured them was safe. What was supposed to heal you has left you facing chronic pain, multiple surgeries, and mounting medical bills. At The Olson Law Firm, LLC, we hold powerful corporations responsible for the dangerous products they put on the market.

Attorney Erik Olson brings over 25 years of experience to every medical implant lawsuit. While our firm is based in Atlanta, we represent victims throughout the state of Georgia who have suffered a serious injury from medical devices. If a company profits from a device, it must be held accountable when it causes harm.

Table of Contents

Medical Malpractice vs. Product Liability: Understanding Your Defective Device Claim

When a medical procedure goes wrong, patients often assume their surgeon made a mistake. However, your doctor may have performed the operation perfectly. If the device itself was inherently flawed, your claim is not medical malpractice—it’s product liability against the manufacturer.

This distinction is critical for Georgia patients pursuing compensation for defective medical devices.

How Product Liability Differs From Medical Malpractice

In Georgia, a defective medical device claim falls under strict liability law. This means the manufacturer can be held responsible for a dangerous product even if they did not intend to cause harm and even if they followed industry standards. You don’t have to prove the company was negligent—only that the device was unreasonably dangerous.

This is fundamentally different from medical malpractice, where you must prove your doctor deviated from the accepted standard of care.

Medical Malpractice

  • Sues the doctor or hospital
  • Must prove the doctor made an error
  • Focuses on what happened during surgery
  • Subject to Georgia’s $350,000 non-economic damages cap (in most cases)

Product Liability (Defective Device)

  • Sues the manufacturer or distributor
  • Must prove the product was defective
  • Focuses on the design or manufacturing of the device
  • No damages cap for product liability claims

Our approach focuses on the device, not your doctor. We understand that blaming your trusted physician feels wrong—and in defective device cases, it usually is wrong. The corporation that profited from a dangerous product should be held accountable, not your local surgical team.

3 Types of Defective Medical Device Claims We Investigate

Our Georgia product liability attorneys examine every aspect of your device’s history to determine which type of defect caused your injury:

1. Design Defects: The Entire Product Line Is Dangerous

Some devices are inherently unsafe due to flawed engineering. Even when manufactured perfectly, they harm patients.

Example: The DePuy ASR hip implant system was designed with metal-on-metal components that systematically shed toxic metal debris into patients’ bloodstreams, causing metallosis, tissue death, and implant failure. The problem wasn’t a manufacturing error—the design itself was defective.

2. Manufacturing Defects: Your Specific Unit Was Defectively Made

Sometimes the design is sound, but your particular device was improperly assembled or contaminated during production.

Example: A single batch of hernia mesh may have been weakened during the manufacturing process, causing it to degrade and fail inside your body while other units from different batches performed as intended.

3. Failure to Warn: The Company Hid Known Risks

Manufacturers have a legal duty to warn patients and doctors about known dangers. When they conceal risks or provide inadequate instructions, they can be held liable for resulting injuries.

Example: If a manufacturer’s internal testing revealed that a pelvic mesh device had a 30% failure rate but they marketed it as safe and effective without disclosing this data, they failed to warn about known risks.

Revision Surgery Damages: The True Cost of Defective Implant Removal

For many victims of defective medical devices, the only solution is a medically necessary—surgical removal of the failing or failed implant/ device. If you’re facing revision surgery, you need to understand a harsh reality: removing a defective device is typically far more dangerous, painful, and expensive than the original implantation.

This is why compensation for defective device cases often significantly exceeds other injury claims.

Why Revision Surgery Is More Dangerous Than Your Original Procedure

When surgeons remove a failed implant, they’re not working with healthy, undisturbed tissue. They’re navigating a battlefield of scar tissue, inflammation, and structural changes your body has undergone since the first surgery.

Specific complications that make revision surgery riskier:

  • Scar Tissue Complications
  • Dramatically Higher Infection Rates
  • Extended and More Painful Recovery Periods
  • Permanent Bodily Changes and Diminished Quality of Life
  • Increased Risk of Permanent Nerve Damage
We Fight to Ensure You’re Not Paying for a Corporation’s Mistake

Unlike a simple injury case, defective medical device claims involve both past and future damages that span years or even decades. The costs of revision surgery—both financial and personal—can be devastating. Global medical device manufacturers have teams of lawyers working to minimize what they pay victims. You need a legal team equally committed to maximizing your compensation.

Our goal is straightforward: make sure you are not the one left paying for a manufacturer’s defective product, either with your savings or your quality of life.

Meeting Georgia’s 10-Year Filing Deadline (Statute of Repose Explained)

Georgia has one of the strictest product liability deadlines in the country—and it could bar your defective medical device claim even if you only recently discovered your injury.

What Is Georgia’s Statute of Repose?

Georgia law includes a rule called the statute of repose (O.C.G.A. § 51-1-11). Unlike the standard statute of limitations (which starts when you discover an injury), the statute of repose creates an absolute deadline based on when the product was first sold—regardless of when you were injured or when you discovered the defect.

For defective medical device cases, you generally must file your product liability lawsuit within 10 years from the date the manufacturer first sold the device model for consumer use.

This is not 10 years from when you received your implant. It’s 10 years from when the product entered the marketplace.

How the 10-Year Clock Works: A Real-World Example

Understanding when your deadline falls requires knowing your device’s market history, not just your surgical date.

Example:

  • 2012: Manufacturer first sells Device Model ABC to hospitals nationwide
  • 2016: You undergo surgery and receive Device Model ABC
  • 2021: You begin experiencing pain and complications
  • 2022: Your doctor confirms the device is failing and recommends revision surgery
  • Your deadline: 2022 (10 years from 2012 first sale)—even though you only discovered the problem months ago

In this scenario, you would have months or even weeks to file your lawsuit despite suffering for years without knowing the cause.

Don’t Let a Manufacturer Escape Accountability on a Technicality

The statute of repose is a powerful tool manufacturers use to avoid responsibility for dangerous products. Their legal teams know that every day that passes works in their favor.

If you’re experiencing complications from a medical device, the time to act is now—not when the pain becomes unbearable or after revision surgery.

Even if you’re unsure whether your device is defective, contact us today. We’ll investigate your device’s history, determine your exact deadlines, and explain your legal options with no obligation.

Frequently Asked Questions

You likely have many questions after a severe complication with your medical implant. Here are answers to some common questions to help you take the first step toward securing your family’s financial security.

Yes, you do not always need to have a second surgery before starting a claim. If a doctor confirms the device is failing or that it will eventually require removal, you likely have a valid case. In fact, filing before revision surgery can be strategically advantageous because it establishes documentation of your initial symptoms and physician warnings.

This contemporaneous evidence is often more compelling than retroactive claims. Additionally, starting the legal process early ensures you don’t run up against Georgia’s 10-year statute of repose, particularly if your device has been implanted for several years. Documenting your pain, medical visits, and diagnostic results now can help build your claim before critical legal deadlines pass.

No, FDA approval does not give manufacturers a free pass. Many devices reach the market through the 510(k) process, which requires very little safety testing. In fact, over 99% of medical devices are cleared through this expedited process, which only requires a manufacturer to prove their device is “substantially equivalent” to an existing device—not that it’s actually safe. Even devices with full Premarket Approval (PMA) can be defective if the manufacturer hid dangers during testing or failed to warn about known risks. If a company sells a product they know is flawed, they are still liable for the harm it causes under Georgia state product liability law.

Typically, your health insurance or personal funds cover your bills initially, and a successful settlement or verdict reimburses you for these out-of-pocket costs plus future care. Lawsuits against global corporations take time to resolve—often 1-3 years depending on complexity—but this timeline allows us to build the strongest possible case for maximum compensation.

If you’re facing financial hardship due to medical bills, some options may be available, such as medical liens or working with healthcare providers on payment plans while your case proceeds. We can also help you document every expense meticulously to ensure nothing is left out of your final compensation demand, including future medical needs, lost wages, and diminished earning capacity.

You can check the official FDA medical device recalls database online using your device’s brand and model number. If you are not sure where to find this information, we can help you obtain your surgical records to identify the exact device used.

Yes, absolutely. Signing a surgical consent form does not waive your right to sue a manufacturer for a defective product. This is one of the most common misconceptions that prevents injury victims from seeking compensation they deserve.

Consent forms are a medical ethics and malpractice protection tool. They do not shield manufacturers from liability for dangerous products. If you were harmed by a defective device, you have legal rights regardless of what you signed before surgery.

Most defective medical device cases are not class actions, and in most situations, you don’t want to be in a class action. Medical device injuries vary dramatically from person to person. One patient might have minor discomfort requiring monitoring; another might need multiple revision surgeries and face permanent disability. A class action structure that treats everyone the same would be grossly unfair.

Class Action Lawsuits:

  • Everyone in the “class” receives the same settlement amount (or an amount based on a simple formula)
  • You give up your individual case and your claims are decided collectively
  • Settlements are typically much smaller per person (sometimes just hundreds of dollars)
  • Makes sense for cases with minimal individual damages but widespread harm (like a $30 overcharge affecting millions of consumers)

Multidistrict Litigation (MDL):

  • Your case is consolidated with similar cases for efficiency during pretrial proceedings
  • You keep your individual lawsuit—your settlement is based on YOUR specific injuries
  • Each person can receive dramatically different amounts based on severity
  • Makes sense for cases with significant individual injuries (like defective medical devices)

Contact Our Atlanta Defective Medical Device Lawyers Today

You trusted a medical device to help you, and it failed. Now, you need a firm that will not back down from a fight against a global manufacturer. Call us at 404-448-2806 or fill out our contact form to schedule a confidential case evaluation.