Power Morcellator Lawsuit News: Bernstein Liebhard LLP Notes Report That Doctor Raised Concerns about Morcellator Cancer Risk with Johnson & Johnson in 2006
New York, New York (PRWEB) June 06, 2014 -- As the Firm continues its investigation of power morcellator lawsuits, (http://www.morcellatorlawsuit2015.com/) Bernstein Liebhard LLP notes a new report that indicates Johnson & Johnson was warned about the potential for uterine morcellation to spread undetected cancers as early as 2006. According to an article that appeared in The Pittsburgh Business Times on May 30, 2014, a Pennsylvania pathologist wrote a series of emails and letters to Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit in 2006 that asked the company to “reconsider the risk to the patient” posed by power morcellation. Dr. Robert Lamparter, then on staff at the Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, was concerned that uterine morcellation “may lead to dissemination of the malignant tissue,” because pre-screening for cancer prior to such a surgery was not always successful.*
“Dr. Lamparter voiced his concerns to Johnson & Johnson eight years before federal regulators issued a statement discouraging doctors from using this technology in laparoscopic hysterectomy and fibroid removals precisely for the same reasons,” says Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm is now offering free morcellator lawsuit reviews to women who may have experienced the spread of undiagnosed uterine sarcoma and other cancers due to uterine morcellation.
Morcellator Lawsuits
Power morcellators are surgical tools used during minimally invasive gynecological procedures to carve up uterine tissue so that it can be removed through a small abdominal incision. On April 17, 2014, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) warned that power morcellation can promote the spread of undiagnosed uterine sarcomas, and discouraged doctors from using these devices in gynecological procedures. Among other things, the FDA noted that the spread of uterine cancers outside of the uterus can greatly diminish a woman’s chances of long-term survival.
Following the issuance of the FDA alert, Johnson & Johnson announced it would suspend sales of three Ethicon devices, the Gynecare Morcellex, Morcellex Sigma Tissue Morcellator System, and Gynecare X-Tract Tissue Morcellator products, pending further guidance from the agency. The FDA is expected to issue new recommendations on uterine morcellation after it convenes an advisory panel to examine the issue later this summer.**
Court records indicate that several morcellator lawsuits have already been filed in U.S. courts on behalf of women whose cancer was allegedly spread via uterine morcellation. Most recently, a case was filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California on May 13, 2014 that claims the use of a Wolf Power Morcellator promoted the dissemination of uterine cancer cells throughout a woman's peritoneal cavity. (Case No. Case5:14-cv-02209-PSG) On May 1, 2014 a similar complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of New York on behalf of a woman who blames uterine morcellation for the spread of leiomyosarcoma in her abdominal cavity. (Case 6:14-cv-06218). In February, the husband of a 53-year-old woman who died from uterine cancer less than a year after she underwent power morcellation filed a morcellator lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. (Case No. 14 5557)
Compensation may be available for alleged victims of uterine cancer spread via a power morcellator. To learn more about the risks potentially associated with uterine morcellation, please visit Bernstein Liebhard LLP's website. To obtain a free legal review, please call 800-511-5092.
*bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2014/05/30/j-j-alerted-in-2006-to-devices-surgical-risks.html, Pittsburgh Business Times, May 30, 2014
**reuters.com/article/2014/04/30/us-johnson-johnson-device-idUSKBN0DG06G20140430, Reuters, April 30, 2014
About Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993. As a national law firm, Bernstein Liebhard LLP possesses all of the legal and financial resources required to successfully challenge billion dollar pharmaceutical and medical device companies. As a result, our attorneys and legal staff have been able to recover more than $3 billion on behalf of our clients. The Firm has been named by The National Law Journal to the Plaintiffs’ Hot List, recognizing the top plaintiffs firms in the country, for the past 12 consecutive years. Bernstein Liebhard LLP is the only firm in the country to be named to this prestigious list every year since it was first published in 2003.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP represents the victims of defective drugs and medical devices on a contingency-fee basis, and our clients are never expected to pay attorneys fees unless their case results in a successful recovery on their behalf. New York State’s contingency fee cap rules generally limit those fees to 33 1/3% of the total recovery. As a result, the Firm’s fees can be significantly lower than those assessed by attorneys in other states, which depending on the law may amount to as much as 40% or more of a plaintiff’s recovery.
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ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. © 2014 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, 800-511-5092. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
Contact Information:
Felecia L. Stern, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
info(at)consumerinjurylawyers(dot)com
http://www.morcellatorlawsuit2015.com/
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Felecia L. Stern, Power Morcellator Lawsuit Information, http://www.morcellatorlawsuit2015.com/, +1 800-511-5092, [email protected]
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