header-logo header-logo

Product liability: inside out?

226376
Sarah Moore & Harry Wilkinson shed light on the underutilised ‘black box’ of product liability claims
  • 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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll