Expert Details

Medical Device Accidents, Surgical Fires, Oxygen Safety, Medical Gas Piping, Failure Analysis

ID: 729827 Pennsylvania, USA

Eng. Expert has been conducting medical device accident investigations for 25 years and product failure analysis for more than 30 years. These failures sometimes involve the actual failure of a metal, plastic, or glass part or a failure of the user. He has had graduate and continuing educational training in failure analysis, stress analysis, fractography, material properties, and electron microscopy. He has brought these skills to play in more than 250 investigations, which resulted in 12 depositions and 3 trial testimonies. The vast majority of his investigations settled out of court because of his properly identifiying the cause of the accident or problem. He is also an expert in oxygen safety and surgical fire safety, having written extensively on both topics.

Several of Eng. Expert's investigations involved surgical staplers, which are used instead of sutures to speed and reduce the complexity of certain surgeries. By examination of the staplers, recovered staples, and excised tissue, he was able to demonstrate that the stapler that these were cases of device misuse and not the fault of the device.By examination of the location of the air intake for a medical air system, Eng. Expert showed that intermittant contaminants were entrained with the intake air and led to poisoning deaths of neonates.A surgical fire case involved an emergency procedure in which an alcohol-based skin prep was inappropriately used. Eng. Expert demonstrated how the fire was started and spread causing the pattern of burns to the patient.Several of Eng. Expert's cases involved catheters. In one case, simple observation of the failure surface of the catheter showed that it was cut with scissors. It was possible that this was a user error or a purposeful act.A purported case of frostbite was attributed to a cooling pad that used ice water. Eng. demonstrated that the device could not cause frostbite and that the injuries sustained were most likely caused by long exposure to wet and cold contrary to the device's and doctor's instuctions for use.

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Education

Year	Degree	Subject	Institution
Year: 1986	Degree: ABD PhD	Subject: Applied Mechanics	Institution: Drexel University
Year: 1974	Degree: MS	Subject: Engineering Science and Mechanics	Institution: VA Tech
Year: 1972	Degree: BS	Subject: Engineering Mechanics	Institution: Penn State

Work History

Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 2010 to Present	Employer: Undisclosed	Title: Senior Engineering Consultant	Department:
Responsibilities: Eng. Expert provides healthcare and engineering consultation, research, investigation, writing, and testimony.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1987 to 2010	Employer: ECRI Institute	Title: Associate Director	Department:
Responsibilities: Eng. Expert has investigated more than 250 medical device accidents and fires for healthcare organizations, insurers, and law firms. he was deposed 10 times and testified at trial twice. He assisted standards writing committees in U.S. and Canada. He assisted in management of group of about 20 engineers and scientists in engineering projects and journal publication. Also wrote articles for a peer-reviewed journal. Finally he planned, executed, and wrote evaluations of medical devices.

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
Eng. Expert has been deposed 12 times and hsa testified at trial three times. He has been in both Federal and state courts.

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Amerian Society for Materials, National Society of Professinla Engineers, National Academy of Forensic Engineers.

Licenses / Certifications
Professional Engineer registered in Pennsylvania

Publications and Patents Summary
Eng. Expert has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and has given more than 160 lectures, mostly on healthcare technology topics.

Fields of Expertise

accident investigation, failure analysis, medical device, metal failure, product failure, medical errors, accident photography, lifting device accident, accident causation, medical device evaluation, mechanical engineering analysis, medical gas, Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990, fatigue failure, cannula, medical device inspection, surgical staple, surgical garment, surgical drape, Medical Device Reporting regulation, medical device reporting, inhaler, medical filter, blood pressure monitoring, oxygenator, stainless steel failure analysis, steel failure analysis, stainless steel failure, steel failure, oxygen-enriched atmosphere, oxygen safety, surgical equipment, nonferrous alloy, medical device safety, medical device testing, battery failure, hemostat, fire extinguisher, electrocoagulation, endoscopy, ureteroscopic device, forensic materials failure analysis, nonferrous metal failure analysis, medical device hazard analysis, stent, surgical implant device, surgical glove, electrical fire, medical device mechanical stress analysis, medical device design, fault tree analysis, mechanical respirator, orthosis, fire, nonferrous metal, accident, surgical instrument, surgery, prosthesis, metal failure analysis, fire safety code, failure modes and effects analysis, materials failure analysis, endoscope, electrosurgery, catheter, biomedical engineering