Product liability: inside out?

• Explanted medical devices are a critical but underused resource in product liability claims, offering valuable insights into device failure, patient outcomes, and potential legal evidence—yet 95% are discarded post-surgery.
• Lack of awareness and confusion among clinicians and patients about ownership rights and consent procedures contributes to the low rate of explant analysis, despite the existence of the NHS Implant Analysis Service.

Explanted medical devices—including, for example, prosthetic hips, knees, or even breast implants—contain vital information which, if retained and analysed appropriately, can be a powerful tool in evaluating why an explanted device has failed. Interested parties include device manufacturers, clinicians, and patients. Information obtained through this analysis can facilitate improved product design, patient care and, in some instances, crucial causation evidence for patients who are seeking to hold manufacturers to account.

Yet, despite significant advances in the sophistication of explant analysis in the UK, and even the creation