› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
Jean-Thenistor Pascal, the Haitian-Quebecker professional boxer and current WBC Light Heavyweight Champion, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder this week and will be unable to train or fight for about nine weeks. The boxer hurt his shoulder while successfully defending his title against Adrian Diaconu last week.
Five lawsuits against manufacturers of pain pumps and pharmaceutical companies on behalf of 28 people were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court this month, alleging fraud, breach of warranty and products liability, saying the makers of the products continued to market the pain pumps as mitigation for shoulder joints despite the specific use of those products not being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The lawsuits also allege that the pain pump devices caused a painful and debilitating condition known as postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis (PAGCL), in which the cartilage in the shoulder joint wears away causing bone to rub against bone.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning orthopedic and anesthesia health care providers and hospital risk managers not to continuously infuse local anesthetics directly into the intra-articular joint space because this use of anesthetics has led to a painful and debilitating condition known as chondrolysis, or the decaying and destruction of the cartilage.
In light of a recent report released by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration that confirms the link between chondrolysis and pain pump use, Joseph A. Carrese, MD, MPH, an expert in bioethics, has issued an opinion stating that physicians have a responsiblity to inform former patients on whom they used the device of the possible risk.
It is Dr. Carrese’s opinion that “to do otherwise would be a failure of expected ethical and professional conduct, and in turn a failure of good clinical practice.”
Things were looking promising for Florida State University quarterback Christian Ponder, until last Saturday, when he separated his right shoulder making a tackle after throwing his fourth interception against Clemson. He now faces surgery to repair a Grade 3 AC separation, which will bench him for the rest of the season.
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.
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.
