Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

A lawsuit filed filed against AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Stryker Corp. claims the companies distributed defective pain pumps even after learning the pumps had destroyed shoulder cartilage and the FDA had repeatedly rejected the products, according to Courthouse News Service. The lawsuit also names Hospira Inc. and Abbott Labs, saying the two companies encouraged the pain pump manufacturers to use their anesthetic drugs in conjunction with the pumps even though the medications had not been properly tested.

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Health Canada has issued a statement encouraging health care professionals to follow instructions for use and refrain from using postoperative pain pumps for continuous intra-auricular infusion of local anesthetics – especially with epinephrine – after shoulder surgery.

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When a 37-year-old canine officer injured both of her shoulders after a fall at work, she sought shoulder surgery to fix her injuries and to relieve the pain she suffered. Multiple procedures were performed on both shoulders, most of which I can’t even pronounce, and postoperative pain pumps were administered to both shoulders following the surgery.  The problems she suffered in the future were not something she had bargained for.

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Imagine a 16-year–old athlete being told that a shoulder surgery that was supposed to relieve his shoulder problems has caused permanent damage to his shoulder, and it will never be the same. Any hopes of being normal again, or pursuing an athletic career, are gone. The damage is done.

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Through arthroscopic shoulder surgery, patients hope for better use of their shoulder and to put an end to their shoulder pain. The expectations of the surgery include alleviating patients’ shoulder problems, and for their post-surgical pain to be eased through pain pumps. While the problems initially might have been alleviated through surgery, it was the pump to ease the pain after the surgery that brought the patients back with more pain and suffering than before.

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Post-Arthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis, or PAGCL, is a debilitating and life altering shoulder injury associated with intra-articular pain pumps used in conjunction with arthroscopic shoulder surgery.

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Dr. Charles Beck, a well-respected orthopedic surgeon, recently issued a warning that a commonly used device designed to reduce pain after surgery is potentially dangerous when used in the shoulder joint space. The devices, manufactured by Stryker Corporation, I-Flow Inc. and other companies, deliver high concentrations of pain medication directly to a surgical site. According to the recently published article co-authored by Dr. Beck, they can cause permanent and debilitating damage to the shoulder. In discussing the matter, Dr. Beck stated:

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