Judge Releases Guidant Documents

Staff Writer

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

A judge yesterday granted the New York times and two Texas-based plaintiffs access to papers they say will prove that Guidant continued to sell their defective defibrillators after they already knew the devices could malfunction. 88,000 defective defibrillators and 200,000 defective pacemakers ahve been recalled by Guidant since June 2005 due to the possibility of malfunction.

The petition to urge the release of documents was filed as part of a lawsuit by two Corpus Christi residents against the Indianapolis-based Guidant.

The lawsuit accuses the maker of heart defibrillators of knowingly selling a defective product.

State District Judge Jack Hunter granted the motion to release the documents.

The handwritten notes from Fred McCoy, president of Guidant's cardiac rhythm management division, show a decision to sell off defective inventory, plaintiff attorney Bob Hilliard said. Guidant spokesman Steve Tragash did not immediately return a call for comment.