Published August 17, 2026
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created a new federal multidistrict litigation, MDL No. 3181, for lawsuits against Boston Scientific over its spinal cord stimulator devices. The panel's transfer order, issued June 5, 2026, centralizes the cases before Judge Josephine L. Staton in the Central District of California under the caption In re: Boston Scientific Corporation Spinal Cord Stimulator Products Liability Litigation. At the time of the order, 23 lawsuits were pending across nine federal districts.
Plaintiffs allege Boston Scientific's implanted spinal cord stimulators — devices marketed to manage chronic pain by delivering electrical pulses along the spine — can unexpectedly stop working or reset during normal use, deliver painful shocks, migrate from their intended position, or otherwise malfunction in ways that require revision or removal surgery. The panel had also been asked to include related lawsuits against Abbott Laboratories over its own spinal cord stimulators, but declined to centralize those claims for now because all of the Abbott cases identified in the motion were pending in a single district, which doesn't meet the multidistrict requirement of cases spread across more than one federal court.
An MDL doesn't decide the underlying claims — it centralizes pretrial proceedings like discovery and expert evidence so that cases with similar allegations aren't litigated from scratch in dozens of separate courts. Bellwether trials, which help set expectations for how the remaining cases might resolve, typically follow months or years after formation. New lawsuits continued to be filed after the June order, including one in July 2026 from a Louisiana woman who alleges her Boston Scientific WaveWriter Alpha device caused burning sensations.
If you were implanted with a Boston Scientific spinal cord stimulator and later experienced device failure, shocks, or needed a follow-up surgery, see Atumio's Boston Scientific spinal cord stimulator case page for a free, no-obligation review, or start your case review directly.