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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Philips reaches $1.1 billion settlement for CPAP machine lawsuits, | |
admits no fault or liability | |
By Jen Christensen, CNN | |
Updated: | |
3:20 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Medical device maker Philips announced a nearly $1.1 billion personal | |
injury settlement over some of its CPAP, ventilators and BiPAP machines | |
that were at the heart of a in 2021. The company also agreed to pay $25 | |
million in a medical monitoring settlement. | |
The Dutch company does not admit fault, liability or that any injuries | |
were caused by the devices with the settlement, , but the money will | |
pay people in the US who sued Philips and claimed that they had been | |
injured by the faulty devices. Philips’ stocks rose sharply on Monday | |
after it announced the agreement along with its first-quarter financial | |
results. | |
The machines are used by people who have to keep breathing while they | |
sleep. Without the machine, the disorder can cause people to briefly | |
stop breathing while they are sleeping, sometimes several times an | |
hour. This condition can keep a person from feeling fully rested | |
because their brain wakes them up when the body senses that they are no | |
longer breathing. It also makes people to developing other serious | |
health problems such as coronary heart disease, heart failure and | |
stroke. The estimates about 100 million people have this disorder | |
globally. | |
The problem that triggered the recall was the polyester-based | |
polyurethane foam used in the device to make it run quieter and to | |
limit vibration. The foam could potentially disintegrate, and people | |
could breathe in pieces of the foam or some of the chemicals released | |
with the breakdown of the material, the US Food and Drug Administration | |
said. The company said it had received complaints prior to the recall | |
and investigated the issue on a case-by-case basis. The recall of more | |
than 15 million machines globally was made the company said. | |
People who used the machines reported a to the FDA including pneumonia, | |
asthma, infection, nodules, chest pain and cancer. As of January, the | |
FDA has received 116,000 medical device reports, including 561 reports | |
of death reportedly associated with the breakdown of the foam since | |
April 2021, said. | |
In October 2023, Philips Respironics agreed to the FDA’s suggestion | |
that it perform additional testing on the devices. | |
Philips’ parent company, Royal Philips CEO Roy Jakobs addressed the | |
settlement during the earnings call. | |
“Patient safety and quality is our highest priority, and we have | |
taken important steps in further resolving the consequences of the | |
Respironics recall,” Jakobs said in a news release on the . “The | |
remediation of the sleep therapy devices for patients is almost | |
complete, and the test results to date show the use of these devices is | |
not expected to result in appreciable harm to health. We do regret the | |
concern that patients may have experienced.” | |
The recalled devices were sold between 2008 and 2021 in the US under | |
the Philips Respironics brand. The it has remediated 99% of the | |
actionable sleep therapy device registrations to date. A list of its | |
impacted devices are posted Philips says 58,000 people have or | |
registered for the settlement. | |
Currently, the company cannot sell its sleep therapy devices in the US | |
until it meets the terms of a with the government. Philips will service | |
units that are still in use in the US and provide replacement parts. | |
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case said that the announcement will | |
be a help to their clients. | |
“The agreements with Philips will provide compensation to those users | |
of the now-recalled CPAP and other respiratory devices who suffer from | |
significant physical injuries and important research for the treatment | |
of those injuries,” a statement from the plaintiffs’ co-lead | |
counsel Sandra L. Duggan, Kelly K. Iverson, Christopher A. Seeger and | |
Steven A. Schwartz. | |
The latest agreement is in addition to an uncapped settlement that | |
provides more than $600 million in economic compensation to affected | |
device owners, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said. | |
“Ultimately, these combined agreements accomplish what we sought to | |
achieve when this litigation began — holding Philips accountable by | |
obtaining care for those with physical injuries and compensation for | |
those needing new respiratory devices,” the attorneys said in the | |
emailed statement to CNN. | |
For who still have one of these recalled machines, the company will | |
give them $100 for each recalled device they have purchased, leased, or | |
rented if they return the device by August 9. There are more details | |
available on the | |
This latest agreement is still not final. The settlement was reached | |
through a mediation with Judge Diane M. Welsh. The settlement still has | |
to be filed in a federal court. Those who sued can expect to see money | |
from the company in 2025. | |
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