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High Technology Simulated Trial - United States v. New Life MedTech

United States v. New Life MedTech is a high technology simulated trial that was conducted on April 6, 2002 in the McGlothlin Courtroom at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Va.

New Life MedTech invented a small device that when implanted properly in an appropriate artery would cleanse the bloodstream of cholesterol. Subsequent to FDA approval, the company altered the chemical composition of the device to sharply lower its selling price. As part of an early adoption program, the device was implanted in January 2002 in a patient, who was a U.S. Army sergeant at Fort Eustis. The patient died of complications allegedly caused directly by the now non-FDA approved device. New Life MedTech was prosecuted for manslaughter in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. New Life MedTech asserted alternative defenses; its device was not the cause of death and/or the device was implanted improperly in the patient, the malpractice having caused the death.

After a mock motion in limine hearing regarding an IVET exhibit, the defendant, New Life MedTech, bolstered the malpractice claim using the exhibit to show that a defense witness who allegedly observed the surgical implantation error could have in fact observed the act. The government rebutted the defense malpractice claim using the same exhibit to show that another defense witness, who also allegedly observed the surgical implantation error, could not in fact have observed the act.