Nearly 3.5 years after filing a lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical over injuries suffered during a hysterectomy allegedly caused by the company’s da Vinci Surgical System, plaintiff Michelle Zarick reached a settlement with the manufacturer on April 21. The settlement came on day three of jury deliberations, following a two-week trial... Read more »

A Louisiana couple has filed a lawsuit against Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc., claiming that the company’s morcellator products are defective. Audrey Radford had a laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy with uterine morcellation on Dec. 15, 2014. Very shortly afterwards, she found out that she had uterine cancer. Prior to the procedure, there... Read more »

Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals is being sued for permanent injuries, financial losses and emotional distress allegedly caused by the defective nature of its Mirena intrauterine device (IUD). Plaintiff Alicia Sloan claims that the manufacturer did not comply with federal standards relevant to the sale of prescription products in the U.S., by... Read more »

A date has been set for the initial status conference for all Ethicon morcellator lawsuits that have been consolidated under multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. U.S. The Honorable Kathyryn H. Vratil issued an order on Oct. 16 stated that the meeting will take... Read more »

A new study on power morcellation was recently accepted for publication by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The researchers took a close look at the risks of power morcellation compared with the potential benefits of laparoscopic surgery over open surgery. They also hinted that a recently touted technique,... Read more »

When it first entered the medical marketplace, robotic surgery was widely hailed as being the next frontier in medical technology. Proponents argued that this innovative approach to performing laparoscopic procedures would reduce the risk of complications to the patient, speed up recovery time, and even reduce post-surgical pain (which would... Read more »

Even as power morcellation lawsuits continue to be filed, consolidation of existing cases is under consideration. The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has scheduled a hearing session on October 1 to determine whether coordination of lawsuits involving similar allegations against power morcellator manufacturers would benefit those involved in... Read more »

Questions have been raised recently about the safety of power morcellators used during gynecologic surgeries, with some healthcare advocates calling for a complete ban on the medical devices because of the risk of spreading cancer during morcellation. Adding fuel to the fire, Congressman Michael Burgess, a Tea Party Republican from... Read more »

A woman who has experienced catastrophic side effects after power morcellation was used during her 2013 hysterectomy has received support from some federal lawmakers. At the time of her surgery, Dr. Amy Reed unknowingly had uterine cancer that was spread throughout her body by the morcellator. Although Reed chose not to... Read more »

A South Carolina man has filed a morcellator cancer lawsuit against Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc., on behalf of his deceased mother. Michael Watkins believes his mother, Enid Watkins died an untimely death as a result of a hysterectomy using morcellation. On May 5, 2011, Enid Watkins underwent a supracervical hysterectomy and... Read more »