BBC News are reporting on the failure of an Emerade adrenalin pen used by 14-year-old nut allergy sufferer, Amber Sheppard.
It is reported that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued warnings about Emerade pens failing to activate in both July and October 2019, with healthcare professionals being told to stop prescribing them from November 2019.
At the end of November 2019, the MHRA issued a recall of all unused devices. It appears that this recall has not happened as there is currently an insufficient supply of adrenaline pens to replace the Emerade stock held by patients.
According to the MHRA, they have been made aware of 23 suspected activation failures between July and January 2019.
For those, like Amber, whose pens were still in date when the warnings were issued, they would not know of the problem until returning to their doctor to renew their prescription.
Given that these devices are intended to save the lives of allergy sufferers, should more have been done to warn the allergy community of the dangers? Should back-up pens of a different brand been supplied?
S J Edney Solicitors specialise in claims involving medical negligence and medical device failure. If you or anyone you know has been harmed by the failure of a medical device, please contact us.
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