Surgeon’s Nondisclosure of Device’s Risks Relieves Defendants of Liability, 2nd Cir. Affirms

NEW YORK — A surgeon’s failure inform a patient of the risks posed by a hip fracture repair device relieves the device’s manufacturer of liability because it severed the causal connection between the manufacturer’s allegedly inadequate warnings and the patient’s injury, a federal appellate court has affirmed.

On April 3, the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that the duty to warn runs to the prescribing physician because he acts as an informed intermediary between the manufacturer and the patient.

The appellate court upheld an award …