Our Texas medical device injury lawyers have questioned before whether the FDA testing and approval process is all that it should be. Your safety rides on the answer to that question.
Recent media articles have chronicled the dilemma of 6 concerned U.S. FDA scientists and doctors who complained that certain approved and soon to be approved cancer screening devices could present safety hazards to patients. These FDA employees began to try to raise awareness of the safety concerns in 2007 by notifying members of Congress, the White House, and the Health and Human Services Administration.
The 6 whistleblowers used their personal email accounts to communicate their concerns, and they claim that the FDA monitored their personal email accounts at work and used the information obtained from that monitoring to target and harass them.
These Texas medical device injury lawyers note that subsequent actions by the FDA could end up supporting these current and former FDA employees’ claims. Two of the employees have been terminated. Two other contract employees have not had their FDA contracts renewed. Two of the 6 employees apparently remain at the U.S. FDA, but media reports do not clarify whether they still occupy their original jobs or whether they might have been moved to less responsible positions.
The FDA and most employers make it clear that employees using employer-based systems at work, even if it’s to send a personal email over a personal email account at lunch, have no expectation of privacy. Simply monitoring employee use of the systems is one thing. But using the information obtained to target and harass concerned whistleblowers is entirely another matter. Federal and state laws protect whistleblowers and some whistle blowing activities. This is because experience has shown that a brave whistleblower’s actions might preserve the safety and lives of many other people.
A constant stream of medical device recalls demonstrates that just because a device is allowed to reach the market and be used in or on your body doesn’t mean that the device is necessarily safe. Our Texas medical device injury lawyers remind you that recent years have seen major recalls on hip and knee implants, surgical mesh used in transvaginal prolapse repairs, and defibrillator devices, among others.
The dubious screening devices on which the whistleblowers tried to take action could negatively impact the health and safety of cancer patients and healthy patients obtaining preventative cancer screenings. Their brave attempts to come forward with their concerns could well save some lives.
But the actions taken by the U.S. FDA against these 6 concerned employees might indicate that the FDA is far more concerned with protecting its own interests than with protecting your health. Our Texas medical device injury lawyers have reached that conclusion before. And the FDA’s actions against the 6 whistleblowers tend to confirm our opinion. We would rather see the FDA act in a way that would change our minds and make us feel more comfortable that they care about our health and safety.