A California resident has filed a lawsuit against a prominent medical device manufacturer, alleging severe complications from a cochlear implant. Michael Ferran filed the complaint in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, on June 18, 2024, against Advanced Bionics Corporation and its representative Mary Ruth Leen.
According to the court documents, Ferran claims that he was misled about the compatibility of an Advanced Bionics cochlear implant with MRI scans. Ferran, who has a meningioma brain tumor requiring annual MRI examinations, alleges that he was assured by Leen that the implant would not interfere with these critical scans. "Our internal cochlear implant is the only one in the industry with a three-dimensional magnet assembly that can go into an MRI machine with no hassle, no pain and continued hearing," Leen reportedly told Ferran in an email dated July 26, 2019.
However, after undergoing surgery to have the implant installed on December 16, 2019, Ferran began experiencing debilitating tinnitus and discovered that the implant caused significant artifacts in MRI images, rendering large portions of his brain invisible to imaging. This defect was confirmed during an MRI examination on July 10, 2022. The artifact issue is detailed in Advanced Bionics' technical manual for radiologists but was not disclosed to Ferran before his surgery.
Ferran's lawsuit accuses Advanced Bionics and Leen of strict liability for failure to warn, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and concealment. He asserts that had he been informed about the MRI artifact issue and its implications for his health monitoring needs, he would not have consented to the implantation procedure. The plaintiff seeks compensatory damages exceeding $35,000 for medical expenses, lost wages due to health complications from the surgery, and ongoing emotional distress.
The case is being handled by Judge James Xiong under Case ID CGC-24-615421. Michael Ferran is representing himself as Plaintiff in Pro Per.