Widow Sues Over Failed Heart Valve : Husband’s Death Blamed on Device

The widow of an Air Force major who died after his artificial heart valve failed filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Orange County firm that manufactured the medical device, the family’s attorney said.

Lawyers for Janeen Wilson of Safford, Ariz., and her two children filed the suit in Orange County Superior Court, asking for unspecified damages in the death of Maj. Steve R. Wilson.

Wilson, an Air Force dentist, died at age 36 on April 8, 1986. An Air Force pathologist later determined the cause of death to be a fracture in a hinge in Wilson’s heart valve, said Mark E. Edwards, a Tustin attorney representing the Wilson family.

Shiley Inc., the Irvine corporation that manufactured the device, ordered a recall on Oct. 11, 1985, of 2,745 of the valves made between May and June of 1982 after reports of problems with the door-like mechanism.

However, the company did not notify those people with the valve already installed that there were possible problems, Edwards said. It is not known how many people still have the device implanted.

Wilson had his valve implanted on April 8, 1985, one year before his death in Cape Kennedy, Fla.

The device, which sold for between $400 and $1,200, was implanted in the hearts of patients with valve closure problems, Edwards said.

“Our research has disclosed that the defect can be eliminated by such a simple process that we can’t understand how this product got on the market in the first place,” Edwards said.

Edwards has already filed two other suits against the company, which is owned by Pfizer Inc., for clients with the heart valve. One of his clients survived a failed valve, and the other is asking for compensation for the emotional distress caused by worrying his valve will fail.

Shiley officials were not available for comment.