Southern Med Law Represents Women In Morcellator Lawsuit Claims Alleging Manufacturers Failed To Warn Of The Risk That Morcellation Devices Used In Laparoscopic Hysterectomies Can Spread Undetected Leiomyosarcoma or Uterine Cancer
A 43-year-old New Jersey woman who filed a morcellator leiomyosarcoma lawsuit after undergoing a hysterectomy and developing a rare and aggressive cancer allegedly due to a morcellator, has died. Southern Med Law, which aggressively represents women in power morcellator lawsuits, learned that the New Jersey woman was diagnosed with metastatic leiomyosarcoma a few weeks after her surgery in October 2014. According to a report by NorthJersey.com, a federal morcellator cancer lawsuit was filed in July on her behalf that named three doctors, the hospital in which she had the surgery, and morcellator manufacturer, Karl Storz Endovision. (Case No.2:15-cv-05704, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey) Due to her declining health, the woman was recently hospitalized and a request to immediately videotape her deposition was granted. The woman died a few days after providing her testimony for the lawsuit.
[northjersey.com/counties/woman-suing-hospital-dies-1.1408599?page=all, September 12, 2015]
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the woman’s family. The firm knows all to well the legal and medical issues involved in morcellator lawsuit claims as we are representing women across the country who have developed leiomyosarcoma after a laparoscopic procedure using power morcellation,” says Dr. François Blaudeau, founder of Southern Med Law.
Government Investigation Into Power Morcellator Risks
The law firm notes that laparoscopic power morcellators have come under fire by patients and their survivors, U.S. lawmakers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which strongly warned in November to avoid using morcellators in the majority of women who require a hysterectomy and a myomectomy because of the morcellators’ potential to spread undetected cancer. In wake of the FDA’s warning, national health insurance companies, including Aetna Inc. and UnitedHealth, announced that they would either end or restrict coverage for uterine morcellation surgeries. In June, CBS News reported that the FBI launched an investigation into power morcellators and will question Johnson & Johnson, the largest power morcellator manufacturer, on what it knew about the cancer risks associated with its morcellators. Johnson & Johnson, which sold morcellators through its Ethicon Inc. unit, suspended global sales of the devices after the FDA’s warning. Recently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office agreed to a request made by 12 bipartisan Congress members to investigate power morcellators.
[wsj.com/articles/members-of-congress-call-on-gao-to-investigate-surgical-tool-1438978884?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy, August 7, 2015]
[wsj.com/articles SB10001424052702304893404579531961812995326, April 29, 2014]
[fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm424443.htm, November 24, 2014]
Morcellator Cancer Lawsuits
As a result of Southern Med Law’s legal aggressiveness, the firm’s attorneys settled the first federally filed morcellator cancer lawsuit in July against morcellator manufacturers, LiNA Medical APS, Kebomed AG & LiNA Medical US. The firm represented Pennsylvania resident, Scott Burkhart, whose 53-year-old wife, Donna, died of disseminated leiomyosarcoma in February 2013, which she developed after undergoing a robot-assisted hysterectomy involving a power morcellator. (Case No. 5:14-cv-1557, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania) The law firm is currently representing a Michigan woman who developed an upstaged endometrial stromal sarcoma, a rare type of uterine cancer that was allegedly disseminated by the morcellators made by defendants Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc., Karl Storz Endovision, Inc., and Karl Storz GMBH & Co.KG (Case No. BC588075, Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County)
Laparoscopic power morcellators are used in minimally invasive surgeries such as a hysterectomy or a myomectomy. The spinning blades of the morcellator shreds and grinds uterine tissue so that the fragments can be removed through small incisions made in the abdomen. The undiagnosed cancer cells are contained in the morcellated uterine tissue fragments being removed. The cancer cells are spread into the abdominal and pelvic cavity or they attach to surrounding organs, and then travel throughout the body, according to the morcellator cancer lawsuits.
Court documents indicate that oral arguments are scheduled on October 1 on a petition filed with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate all federally filed power morcellator cancer lawsuits alleging that power morcellators have the potential to spread cancer during gynecological procedures.
Southern Med Law is a full service law firm representing victims of negligence, personal injuries, medical malpractice, dangerous drugs, faulty medical devices and defective products. Led by Dr. François Blaudeau, an attorney and a practicing obstetrician/ gynecologist, and the legal staff at Southern Med Law possesses a deep understanding of the complex medical and legal questions at issue in all manner of power morcellators. They are not afraid to take on the manufacturers to make them accountable and enable all of their clients to have the aggressive legal representation they deserve.
Southern Med Law
François M. Blaudeau, MD JD FACHE FCLM Esquire
2224 1st Avenue North
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Phone: 205-547-5525
Fax: 205-547-5526
francois@sml-legal.i-mlaw.com
Medical Negligence/MedicalDevice/Pharma/Qui Tam
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