Post-operative pain pumps are a pain-management system that deliver medication directly to the surgical wound. The pumps came under fire recently after The American Journal of Sports Medicine linked intra-articular (or post-operative) pain pumps to cases of Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis, a progressive degeneration of the cartilage in the shoulder resulting in pain and loss of motion. Chondrolysis is a chronic condition that often requires surgery.

Until the 1990s, the pumps delivered medication at a limited flow rate. In the late 1990s, manufacturers increased the amount of anesthetic used in the pain pumps. The lawsuit contends that continuous injection of the high-volume anesthetics into the shoulder can cause serious and permanent damage to the joint cartilage in the shoulder. The lawsuit also claims the pumps were marketed without first doing studies to determine the safety of the high-volume pain pumps or what damage could have occurred, instead encouraging use of both the pain pumps with the high doses of anesthetics.

“The plaintiffs are demanding compensatory damages for fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty,” according to the report.

SOURCE: Pain Pumps › Pain pump manufacturers named in lawsuit