St Jude Under Fire

Kahn Gauthier Swick is investigating any lawsuit that the St Jude Symmetry Bypass Aortic Connector has been associated with a high occurrence of heart attacks, respiratory failure, and has been linked several deaths. The adverse effects associated with the St. Jude Device include graft narrowing, valve leakage, failed deployment, and occlusion.

The St Jude Symmetry is commonly used in "beating heart" or "off machine" heart bypass surgery. This type of bypass surgery has become increasingly popular because it eliminates the need for the bypass patient to hooked up to a lung machine during bypass surgery. The St Jude device allows thoracic surgeons to attach saphenous (leg) vein grafts to the aorta without sutures and without clamping the aorta during the procedure.

The St Jude Medical device is one part of a system comprised of an aortic cutter, a delivery system and the connector. After an abbreviated approval process allowed by law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the St. Jude Medical device in 2001, for use in the United States. There have been thousands of the st jude devices implanted during coronary bypass surgery, mostly in "off pump" or "beating heart" procedures where surgeons do not place the patient on the heart lung machine.