› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
Oklahoma Sooner star quarterback and 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford announced he will leave the team prematurely to undergo shoulder surgery before pursuing a career with the National Football League. The shoulder repair surgery requires a four- to six-month rehabilitation, leaving him unable to play.
Jim Smith could barely move his right arm following a motorcycle accident. A traditional shoulder replacement surgery left him in pain and unable to even do small household chores. “I was down to practically doing nothing,” Smith said to WNDU-TV. “I couldn’t even trim bushes in the yard because I didn’t have control of my right arm.”
Lawsuits against the manufacturers of shoulder pain pump devices have been filed in state and federal courts across the nation, and some have already been scheduled for trial beginning in 2010. What juries may be surprised to hear is how a device commonly used between 1999 and 2007 to relieve pain following shoulder surgery, has months later resulted in an irreversible, painful and debilitating condition known as chondrolysis.
Deciding to have rotator cuff surgery can be trying decision. On one hand, it can relieve pain and increase mobility in the shoulder. But shoulder surgery can carry risks, some that may worsen the condition and may require more surgery. Before choosing to go under the knife, consider your options, says the e-zine Revolution Health.
Rotator cuff surgery is considered one of the most painful sports-injuries surgeries to the shoulder. It involves the reattaching of the damaged tendon or tendons to the upper arm. In order to access the injured rotator cuff, the surgeon makes a two- to three-inch incision in the shoulder and cuts through the deltoid muscle. Scar tissue is removed and small holes are drilled through the bone allowing the surgeon to sew the tendon to the bone. The procedure can be difficult for sports medicine and orthopedic surgeons due to the multitude of knots that must be tied through a type of small tubing under arthroscopic viewing. But one corporation is making that procedure easier for surgeons.
I-Flow Corp., the Irvine, Calif.-based device maker, exceeded expectations with its quarterly results and says it expects to see an operating profit for the year despite a sharp increase in the number of product liability lawsuits filed against the company in July 2009. The company, which makes devices that deliver targeted anesthesia as an alternative to narcotics known as pain pumps, has a market value of $175 million.
Swimming is often touted as the perfect exercise, working several muscles throughout the body with such low impact that it makes injuries less likely than in other sports. But a recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reported that 71 out of 80 elite male swimmers experienced shoulder pain. The pain from this “swimmers shoulder” comes from either tendonitis or from the pinching of the rotator cuff muscle. The culprit? Repetitive overhead movements, such as those from the main swimming strokes such as freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke.
The shoulder joint has the greatest range of motion of all our joints and allows us to use our arms for various tasks, from throwing pitches to supporting our bodies. When the shoulder is injured, surgery may be required to relieve pain and restore mobility. However, some individuals have found that surgery on their shoulder has made their condition worse.
Pain pumps are devices used to deliver a steady amount of medication to a wound site for up to 72 hours following surgery. They are often used in shoulder surgery. The balloon-shaped part of the device rests outside the body and is attached to catheters that feed into the shoulder tissue. Once the medication has been used, patients are instructed to simply pull out the catheter.
Three decades ago, Chuck Short dislocated his shoulder joint while pole-vaulting. The nagging pain and limited use eventually led his doctors to recommend a total shoulder replacement. Much had changed in the 30 years since Short originally injured his shoulder. Back then, he would nave needed to stay in the hospital for three to five days. But thanks to innovations in medical technology, Short was able to go home a mere two hours after surgery. The reason? A pain pump that rested outside his body but had a tiny catheter that fed into his wound site. The pump administered gradual doses of Novocaine into his shoulder for up to 72 hours.
