What is "Stent Law?"

Reports continue to pour in from all over the country of doctor's performing unnecessary coronary stent implants. It is perceived that doctors and hospitals are engaging in repeated unnecessary stent placement for financial gain. Indeed, Interventional Cardiology can be a hospital's most lucrative medical practice. Case in point, a single stent implant can generate medical bills and cost upwards of $10,000 to $15,000. The typical hospital with an approved interventional cardiology program can perform anywhere between 5,000 to 10,000 stenting procedures annually.

The lucrative nature of coronary stent implants is undeniable, and at least one physician has been sent to prison for billing the federal government for placing stents that were not medically necessary. Alarmingly, many hospitals and medical institutions have no safeguards, regulations or safety protocols to ensure that their doctors are performing within accepted medical standards of care, and only placing those stents that are medically necessary.

According to the American Heart Association over 1,000,000 stenting procedures are performed each year in the United States. The vast majority of these procedures are complication free and a physician will often inform a patient, after the procedure, as to why the stent was placed. However, stent implants are also dangerous and complications like re-stenosis occur far too often. Other complications include blood clots, failure of the stent, anaphylactic shock, heart attack, kidney failure and wrongful death.

If you or a family member have had a stent or have suffered any complications after a stent implant it is important, in order to protect your legal rights, to investigate whether your stent implant was medically proper and necessary. If you suffered complications from a stenting procedure that should not have been performed, or you have an unnecessary stent in your heart, you may have a cause of action against the doctor and/or hospital who performed the unnecessary procedure.

If you believe the stent you had placed was unnecessary you need to protect your legal rights now! If your stent was unnecessary, The Stent Lawyers at Wais & Vogelstein will help you to investigate your individual case and get you the compensation you deserve. Contact us today for a FREE case consultation.

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