In New Power Morcellator Lawsuit Georgia Woman Alleges Her Cancer Was Spread By Tool

September 22, 2015 – – Tracey & Fox reported that another power morcellator lawsuit has been filed, this time in the state of Georgia.

Power morcellators are surgical tools that have been used by the medical community for decades in laparoscopic surgeries. The device consists of a hollow cylinder which is inserted into the body cavity through tiny incisions made by the surgeon. Once inside, cutting jaws are used to shred the tissue being removed and then graspers are used to pull out the small pieces through the cylinder.

In recent years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has investigated the possibility that power morcellators used in gynecological surgeries may disseminate undetected uterine cancer, causing metastasis of the cancer to other areas of the body. On November 24th, 2014, the FDA updated a safety warning that it had previously published in April 2014, urging doctors to stop using the morcellator for hysterectomies and myomectomies because it was estimated that “approximately 1 in 350 women undergoing hysterectomy or myomectomy for the treatment of fibroids have an unsuspected uterine sarcoma.”

This latest lawsuit, filed on July 10th, 2015, in the State Court of Gwinnett County State of Georgia under civil action number 15-C-03689-1, alleges that the LiNA Xcise Laparoscopic Morcellator which was used during the plaintiff’s supracervical hysterectomy and salpingectomy, spread her undiagnosed leiomyosarcoma.

The case states that “In cutting, shredding, and fragmenting the uterus and fibroids while still within the plaintiff, the LPM disseminated and seeded cancer throughout her abdominal cavity thereby causing and accelerating the metastases and spread of her cancer, worsening her long-term prognosis and the natural course of her cancer.” Since her diagnosis, the plaintiff has undergone aggressive chemotherapy in an attempt to slow the progression of her disease and will have to have continuous imaging studies in order to monitor and address her leiomyosarcoma.

The complaint further alleges that the “Defendants knew or should have known that when malignant tissue undergoes laparoscopic power morcellation, the resultant tissue specimens can delay diagnosis because their condition can prevent the pathologist from properly identifying and staging cancer.”

This case is just one of many that have been filed against several power morcellator manufacturers. Recently, several plaintiffs filed a motion to consolidate all power morcellator lawsuits under a Multidistrict Litigation, requesting all cases would be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas and assigned to the Hon. Kathryn H. Vratil.

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