Patent ID: 8029477

Claim:
An applier for attaching a medical implant to body tissue, said applier being in communication with a medical implant having a deployed and an undeployed state, said applier comprising: (a) a handle having an actuator for changing the state of said implant from undeployed to deployed, wherein the actuator is movably coupled with a body portion of the handle, wherein the body portion of the handle is configured to be gripped by a hand of a user; (b) a shaft having a proximal end attached to the body portion of said handle and a distal end extending therefrom, wherein the actuator is located proximally in relation to the proximal end of the shaft; (c) a locator attached to and extending from said distal end of said shaft, said medical implant being removably attachable to said locator; (d) said actuator having a first position which corresponds to said undeployed state of said implant when said medical implant is attached to said locator and a second position which corresponds to said deployed state of said implant when said medical implant is attached to said locator, wherein the actuator is movable relative to the body portion of the handle to transition from the first position to the second position; and (e) a safety switch having an activated position and an unactivated position, wherein the safety switch is configured to prevent actuation of said actuator when the safety switch is in the unactivated position, wherein the safety switch is configured to permit actuation of the actuator when the safety switch is in the activated position, wherein the actuator comprises a first slot corresponding to the first position and a second slot corresponding to the second position, the safety switch being configured to engage the first slot when the actuator is disposed at the first position and when the safety switch is in the unactivated position, wherein the safety switch is further configured to disengage the first slot when the safety switch is in the activated position, wherein the safety switch is further configured to engage the second slot when the actuator is disposed at the second position and the safety switch is in the unactivated position, wherein the safety switch is further configured to disengage the second slot when the safety switch is in the activated position.