So many things my doctor and Medtronic didn’t tell me: A defibrillator wire defect

Stephanie Martinson, 35, a speech pathologist in Palo Alto, California, said that in March she had a defective wire – a Fidelis lead - removed from the defibrillator device in her heart. The removal was necessary because instead of correctly monitoring her heart rhythm, and only shocking it back into a normal pattern when needed, the Medtronic device had delivered a jolting shock 26 times in an hour. Medtronic notified doctors of the defect, and in May, she received a replacement wire. Unfortunately, the replacement was another Fidelis lead, which may be defective.

"There are so many things my doctors and Medtronic didn't tell me," she said.

Five patients are known to have died because of malfunctions of the device's leads, or wires, which connect the device to the heart.

Medtronic disclosed that the new thin leads have a tendency to form small cracks in the wire, which either blocks or distorts its electrical flow. The flaws may result in faulty signals to the defibrillator, making it unnecessarily shock the heart or fail to deliver a life-saving jolt of electricity when needed.

No one knows how common this problem is. Medtronic says it might affect 2.3% of the 235,000 patients who have the suspect wires, i.e., more than 5,000 patients.

Advice: Tell your friends with implanted defibrillators to ask their doctors whether they have the Medtronic-made Fidelis leads (which have identifying numbers 6930, 6931, 6948 and 6949, on their wallet card), and if so, to schedule computerized testing of the device.

Read another defibrillator story, or read the source stories by Barry Meier and Lawrence Altman in today's New York Times.

A larger-than-life victim: OxyContin adverse drug reaction lawsuits

Sean Barry, who at 35 had become the youngest college president in New England, was known as a larger-than-life character who rose from modest beginnings to head the college. He was beset by health problems throughout his life, winning a five-year battle with leg cancer after 18 surgeries, only to have his leg amputated in 1992.

The cause of his death remained a mystery late last year. Results of a toxicology test confirmed that an excess of oxycodone, which is the active ingredient in painkillers such as Percocet and OxyContin, killed the 42-year-old Barry. He died Nov. 16 in his childhood home on Marlboro Street in Quincy.



Sean is one of hundreds of Americans each year who have died after taking OxyContin. Why so many? Today’s newspapers reveal that the drug’s maker had long deceived doctors, leading them to believe OxyContin was not addictive. Three executives of Purdue Pharma, the drug maker, pled guilty yesterday to criminal charges in Federal court. The judge levied fines totaling $630 million. This includes $130 million in civil lawsuits by pain patients who claimed they became addicted as a result of having OxyContin prescribed to them. Barry Meier writes in today’s New York Times, “Purdue Pharma…heavily promoted OxyContin to general practitioners, who often had little training in treating serious pain or in recognizing signs of drug abuse.”

Advice: If you have pain severe enough to bring you to the doctor, ask your doctor about alternatives to pain-killing drugs.


Read another story of a lawsuit on a pain-killing drug’s side effects, or read John Kelly’s source story in today’s Patriot Ledger.