Surgical Power Morcellators
Power Morcellation Surgery and Uterine Surgery
If you have been diagnosed with fibroids or cancer after a Hysterectomy or Mymectomy using a Laparoscopic Uterine Power Morcellation device, you may be researching your legal options. The Farber Law Group, a personal injury law firm located in Bellevue, Washington, may be of assistance to you.
The Farber Law Group is currently reviewing whether patients who have found that they have fibroid growth on internal organs or a previously undetected cancer after they underwent a Hysterectomy or Mymectomy to remove their uterus or fibroids may be able to seek financial compensation through a morcellation lawsuit. In this writing, up to 24 product liability lawsuits have been filed against morcellation device manufacturers claiming that surgery using the device spread cancer. More claims appear to be forthcoming.
Power morcellation devices were approved by the FDA in 1995 and have become popular in the past decade. Approximately 11% of all women undergoing hysterectomies in 2010 used a morcellation surgical technique.
Laparoscopic Surgery using a Power Morcellation Device
A power morcellator is a medical device that cuts up fibroids, tumors, or the uterus into small pieces, allowing the surgeon to remove the pieces through a laparoscopic incision.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published two studies that highlight the risks vs. benefits of using a Power Morcellation device to remove fibroid tumors and the uterus. Morcellation devices like the one made by Johnson & Johnson offer benefits to patients because laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive and usually provides reduced recovery times, less postoperative pain, and fewer complications than traditional surgery.
However, it appears that there are risks in using an electric morcellator; the device can fling fibroid tissue into the abdominal cavity allowing fibroid growth on other internal organs or it can spread undetected uterine cancer throughout the pelvis which can be a life-threatening complication. These complications would most likely not occur if the uterus and fibroids were removed intact using traditional surgical methods.
In the most aggressive cancers, such as leiomyosarcoma (LMS), this can spread one of the most deadly forms of deadly cancers reducing long-term survival rates.
Every year, tens of thousands of women in the United States undergo hysterectomies or fibroid removal surgery.
One study found that:
Two of seven patients with undiagnosed stage I uterine leiomyosarcoma and one of four with undiagnosed stage I smooth muscle tumors had disseminated intraperitoneal disease after morcellation.
FDA Safety Communication
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Safety Communication on April 17, 2014, concerning power morcellation surgery discouraging the use of power morcellation during laparoscopic surgery for hysterectomy or myomectomy for uterine fibroids. the safety advisory also instructed manufacturers to review labeling. The FDA is currently reviewing whether a "black box" warning should accompany all power morcellator.
Johnson & Johnson's Eticon division sells approximately 75% of all power morcellators. It appears that Johnson & Johnson may have known prior to the April 2014 communication from the FDA that the devices posed a risk to women with undiagnosed cancer. J & J has suspended global sales. The leading power morcellator marketed by J&J is Ethicon Gynecare Morcellex, Blue Endo MoreSolution Tissue Morcellator, and Karl Storz Rotocut G1 Morcellator.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a report defending the use of power morcellation devices and it is apparent that the medical community is in conflict.
Product Liability Lawsuits
Quite a few patients have filed lawsuits after they were diagnosed with uterine cancer after undergoing surgery with power morcellators. The lawsuits claim that surgeons were not informed of the risk involved in using the device and that warning surgeon to use specimen bags would have contained cancer and contained its spread.
Attorney Represents Morcellation Patients
The Farber Law Group is reviewing individual claims and class action lawsuits for women who have leiomyosarcoma, uterine sarcoma, or another type of cancer that was spread from morcellation surgery.
Despite alternative surgical procedures available to remove fibroids or the uterus, morcellation device manufacturers did not provide hospitals, surgeons, and patients with all the information regarding the risks of surgery using a power morcellation device which may have resulted in the spread of advanced cancer, reducing the lifespan and affecting the health of thousands of American women.
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Herb Farber and the attorneys in the network of The Farber Law Group provide a free case consultation to people seriously injured in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. If your injuries are serious and you cannot come to see us, we can arrange to visit you at Harborview Medical Center, Overlake Hospital Emergency & Trauma Center, Evergreen Hospital, or one of the other trauma centers throughout the state. We have represented injured victims for more than 45 years and we believe every injured person should have access to legal advice. For your Free and Confidential consultation, contact us today at (800) 244-9087.