But the majority of surgical stapler complications reported between 2011 through 2018 were submitted to a hidden database. Companies have an obligation to the consumers of their products. In the case of a medical device such as a surgical stapler, Ethicon has an obligation to the patients receiving surgery to produce staplers that will work as intended and won’t cause injury or death. Patients who have experienced health complications or injury during surgery because of a misfiring surgical stapler may have a case against the manufacturer, Ethicon, whose product caused them harm. Loved ones of patients who died because of those health complications or injuries as a result of misfiring surgical staplers may also have a case in a wrongful death lawsuit. The types of injuries caused by Ethicon surgical staplers can be permanent and may create various hardships for the victim and their families.
In recent years, they have also introduced several types of surgical staplers, such as Proximate, Echelon Flex, and many others. The company owns 80% of the US market for medical sutures and sells its products in 52 countries worldwide. These large range of numbers, however, only represent what the FDA has admitted in public. Kaiser Health News also reported that a whopping 56,000 reports of surgical stapler malfunctions included in the hidden database were never disclosed to the public. Victims of malfunctions and errors involving surgical staplers are already filing lawsuits.
Surgical Stapler Lawsuit 2022
Misfired staples can embed in tissues or organs that were not intended to be stapled. If a staple fails to close or completely seal a wound, bacteria and other foreign matter can invade the wound and cause sepsis ethicon lawsuit staples or infection. Internal organs and organ systems can hemorrhage, bleed internally and sustain organ damage. Stapler failures can take days to identify and some of the complications can be irreversible.
They are used as an alternative to hand-stitching, or suturing, surgical incisions and openings. As for the products recalled on October 3, 2019, there are few, if any, current lawsuits against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon’s parent company. If there are any changes, I’ll be sure to let you know in an updated blog post.
While your communications with a lawyer may be subject to the attorney-client privilege, communications through this website may not be. Please do not share any confidential or privileged information through this website. Top Class Actions or the attorneys with whom your information is shared may be ordered by a court of law to produce your information in certain legal situations. Also, you are not formally represented by a law firm unless and until a contract of representation is signed by you and the law firm. If you had internal staples put in during surgery that later needed corrective surgery to fix, you may be affected by the recalled products.
Properly designed staplers used at the discretion of skilled doctors are generally safe. Furthermore, the stapler sometimes misfires or doesn’t staple with proper force. Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail.
If you had internal staples put in during surgery which later needed corrective surgery to fix, you may be affected by the recalled products and may meet the Ethicon lawsuit criteria. This risk has been cited as a reason behind surgical stapler recalls in recent years. Food and Drug Administration initiated a Class 1 recall—its most serious type of recall—of surgical staplers.
Our experience in medical device lawsuits
The largest surgical stapler lawsuit verdict was $80 million for a woman who suffered injuries during an operation that nearly killed her. As of 2019, the number of surgical stapler lawsuits is expected to climb. In fact, they are the manufacturers of the first sutures ever made.
I will be happy to refer any of my family and friends to your law firm. I am very thankful to Sabrina Thornburg and Andrew Felix for everything that they have done on my case. Sabrina kept in touch with me to let me know how everything was going and I am very happy with the service that she and Andrew provided. By working with Belluck & Fox to hold stapler companies accountable, patients can get the justice and compensation they deserve. Surgical staples and sutures are often used in gastrointestinal surgery; colorectal cancer surgery; bariatric surgery; endo-related surgery; gynecologic & urologic surgery; thoracic surgery; and more. When making your request, you should specify that you want the full surgical records to be included.