Students Reach Settlement in Pain Pump Lawsuit

Lewis Center, OHA pain pump lawsuit that was just recently settled happened to involve the knees—but is not unlike similar lawsuits alleging equally similar injuries to the shoulder, when a shoulder pain pump is used to deliver pain medication directly to the shoulder joint—with often devastating results.

Such devastation is all the more compelling when such injuries happen to young people. In this case two young athletes who reached a settlement with Breg, a pain pump manufacturer based in California, suffered irreversible knee complications after pain pumps were used to deliver pain medications directly to the knee joint following knee surgery.

Colleen McClain and Brittany Hamilton, both 21-year-old residents of Lewis Center, suffered torn anterior cruciate ligaments as athletes at Olentangy High School and underwent surgery between 2005 and 2006. Pain pumps manufactured by Breg were used to deliver pain medication directly to the knee joint, an indication not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but an indication nonetheless promoted—allegedly—by sales representatives of Breg and other manufacturers.

The two young women now face complete knee replacement surgery, according to the March 19 edition the Columbus Dispatch. Terms of the settlement with Breg, which was reached prior to a trial set to start April 4, were not disclosed.

The FDA long ago approved the use of shoulder pain pumps for use following shoulder injury necessitating shoulder surgery. However, pain pumps used with either the shoulder or the knee were approved only for use within the soft tissue surrounding the joint—not directly to the joint, where sensitive cartilage has been found to be adversely impacted by coming into direct contact with pain medication.

The resulting condition, known as chondrolysis, is characterized by a complete breakdown of cartilage necessary to the normal movement of the joint. Cartilage does not regenerate. Once it breaks down, the joint remains compromised until additional surgery—often complete joint replacement surgery—is needed to restore function.

The issue is no respecter of age. Many a young athlete undergoing shoulder repair surgery and prescribed a shoulder pain pump directly to the joint has required painful and expensive shoulder replacement surgery.

A similiar issue faced McClain and Hamilton, together with the allegation that Breg sales representatives promoted the pain pumps for off-label use to the joints directly. Breg claimed that its representatives did not advise surgeons to use the pain pumps off-label.

However the orthopedic surgeon who operated on the two plaintiffs told The Dispatch last year that representatives of Breg did, indeed, promote pain pumps for off-label uses.