For people living with diabetes, keeping blood sugar levels in check is of utmost importance. Many have turned to insulin pumps -- cell phone-sized electronic devices that deliver doses of insulin on a pre-programmed schedule -- to help manage their blood sugar.
Medtronic manufactures a number of different insulin pump systems, touting discretion, convenience, and flexibility among the benefits offered by the devices. But patients using Medtronic’s MiniMed 600 series insulin pumps -- devices they believed were safe and reliable -- learned of serious risks when the company issued an urgent field safety notification in November of 2019 and recalled 322,000 units.
In February 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified Medtronic’s action as a Class I recall -- the most serious type of recall -- with the warning that, “use of these devices may cause serious injuries or death.”
"There have been reported incidents of a loose reservoir that can no longer be locked into the pump. The reservoir can become loose due to a broken or missing retainer ring that prevents a proper lock. The retainer ring can be broken, for example, as a result of dropping or bumping your pump on a hard surface," said Medtronic’s notification to patients.
Images of Pump Retainer Ring from Medtronic Field Safety Notification:
| Recalled Product: |
Distribution Dates |
Device Use |
| Model 630G (MMT-1715) - all lots before October 2019 |
September 2016 to October 2019 |
may be used by persons sixteen years of age and older |
| Model 670G (MMT-1780) - all lots before August 2019 |
June 2017 to August 2019 |
may be used by persons seven years of age and older |
When the insulin cartridge isn’t properly locked in position, insulin delivery can be interrupted, leading to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). Patients with hypoglycemia can experience dizziness, confusion, and feelings of weakness, while severe cases of hyperglycemia can lead to loss of consciousness, seizure, or death.
The FDA’s notice in February of 2020 said the company had received a total of 26,421 complaints that the device had malfunctioned in this manner. It went on to say that Medtronic was aware of 2,175 injuries and one death.
SimplyConvert is working to help firms across the country gather Medtronic insulin pump clients and hold the company accountable.
SimplyConvert’s proprietary Instant Case Evaluation Platform can help your team seek justice for people who suffered injuries due to Medtronic insulin pumps.
We partner with the most qualified lawyers in every mass tort to formulate the criteria for qualifying clients. Once we program our AI-powered chatbot with the injury-specific criteria, it is ready to chat with website visitors and qualify potentially viable claims.
Click the button at the end of this post to download SimplyConvert's criteria chatflow for Medtronic Insulin Pump Litigation.
Firms on the SimplyConvert platform can immediately begin intake for Medtronic Insulin Pump cases. (If your team wishes to modify the criteria, we are happy to discuss how we can revise it to work for your practice.) As will all of our Instant Case Evaluators, no litigation-specific training is required.
From the first conversation to a signed contract, SimplyConvert's automation tools put every step of the client intake process on autopilot. If you’re not already using the SimplyConvert platform, get started today and get back to focusing on your clients.