As a former police officer, I’ve experienced my share of challenges. But nothing compares to the trials I’ve endured in recent years battling life-threatening illnesses, including cancer and diabetes. As a result, I have come to appreciate, in a very personal way, how precious good health is, and how important good health care and modern medical advances are to saving lives and helping ensure a good quality of life for people like myself who face serious health issues.

Thankfully, for me and countless others, the United States has led the world in innovation and progress in science and medicine, driving many advances that have developed into life-saving medical devices.

One such device is making a difference in my life each and every day. It is a neurostimulator, surgically implanted in my neck in order to help control debilitating pain I have felt for years. It was developed through the same technology that produced cochlear implants that now enable some profoundly deaf people to hear. Current research with the same technology holds the potential for treating epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and other serious afflictions.

Others are enjoying a quality of life made possible by medical devices such as pacemakers, automatic defibrillators and insulin pumps.

But advances such as those are threatened by a bill pending in Congress. The so-called Medical Device Safety Act of 2009 would make it possible for personal injury attorneys to file suits in all 50 state court systems across the country against manufacturers of medical devices — even if those devices have been found to be safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration and manufacturers follow precisely the federal guidelines for producing them.

The fact is, not every medical device will work for every person. That was certainly explained to me before my neurostimulator was implanted; and there were risks I understood. Opening up the makers of medical devices who have done everything right, and followed the guidelines established by the FDA, to a slew of speculative lawsuits won’t change that. In fact, it will tie the hands of researchers, making them reluctant to do further testing and inhibiting future breakthroughs.

While personal injury lawyers stand to profit from increased litigation, we will all pay a price in higher health care costs and, tragically, in lost opportunities for better health for countless people who need the next generation of medical devices — and can’t afford to wait.

I am disappointed that Congressman Mike Michaud recently signed on to this misguided bill. I hope he will reconsider his position, and that Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins will oppose this legislation as well.

I can’t help but think of other members of my family who died in past years, never having the opportunity to benefit from the modern medical advances that are making such a difference in my life. It would be tragic if this bill became law, and my children or grandchildren — and other people’s — never have the ability to benefit from future advances that can only be imagined today.

Donald Mondor lives in Sabattus.