Last month, in Taylor v. Intuitive Surgical Inc., the Washington Supreme Court saddled medical device manufacturers with a new duty to warn under Washington law — the duty to warn hospitals about potential risks their products may pose — and eroded exemptions from strict liability afforded to manufacturers of certain “unavoidably unsafe” products.

This decision comes as a surprise, and represents an unexpected shift in the law with regard to medical device manufacturers.

Originally published in Law360 on March 1, 2017.