Wrongful Death Suit Filed Over Ethicon Power Morcellation

December 15, 2014, 1:00PM. By Lucy Campbell

Los Angeles, CAA wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a woman who underwent robot-assisted hysterectomy and uterine fibroid removal surgery, with a laparoscopic uterine surgery via power morcellator made by Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

Carl Cecilia Merrill of Missouri, underwent the laparoscopic power morcellation surgery in December 2012 at which time an Ethicon Gynecare morcellator was used to allow the doctors to remove the uterus and fibroid laparoscopically. However, the device allegedly caused undiagnosed uterine cancer to be disseminated throughout her peritoneal cavity, causing a rapid upstaging of the cancer from its earliest, and most treatable stage, to its most deadly. She subsequently died of metastatic uterine cancer in August 2014.

Recently, the FDA has determined that approximately 1 in 350 women who are undergoing hysterectomy or myomectomy for fibroids have an unsuspected type of uterine cancer called uterine sarcoma. If laparoscopic power morcellation is performed in these women, there is a risk that the procedure will spread the cancerous tissue within the abdomen and pelvis, significantly worsening the patient’s likelihood of long-term survival.

Consequently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a safety communication discouraging the use of laparoscopic power morcellation for the removal of the uterus (hysterectomy) or uterine fibroids (myomectomy) in women because, based on an analysis of currently available data, it poses a risk of spreading unsuspected cancerous tissue, notably uterine sarcomas, beyond the uterus.

Laparoscopic power morcellation is one of several available treatments for fibroids. It is a procedure that uses a medical device to divide the uterine tissue into smaller pieces or fragments so it can be removed through a small incision in the abdomen, such as during laparoscopy.