Product-liability lawsuits are starting around the country concerning pain pumps.
Mayfield describes a pain pump as a small pump that is surgically placed under your skin to deliver spurts of medication directly to the afflicted area. They are most often used to deliver pain medication after a surgery.
While the pain pump is meant to be beneficial, some scientists believe that there may be a connection between the pain pumps and a serious bone condition known as chondrolysis. As the New York Times reports: "several medical studies have concluded that the likely culprit [for chondrolysis] is a pain pump, a postsurgical medical device used to deliver local anesthetics to a specific area through a plastic tube."
Chondrolysis is when the cartilage in the joints diminishes removing the buffer between two bones. As a result, the two bones grind on one another.The New York Times reports that over 150 lawsuits have developed in response to the belief that "the manufacturers disregarded safety in their quest to expand into the orthopedic market." Some believe that the doctors are to blame for not adhering to what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about. In November of last year, after reviewing 35 cases in which chondrolysis developed in patients, the FDA stated: "The FDA has not cleared any infusion devices with an indication for use in intra-articular infusion of local anesthetics." Basically, they have not approved the use of pain pumps near joints.
I-Flow, the biggest pain pump manufacturing company, even changed their packaging to warn doctors about having the pain pumps put near joints; however, the plaintiffs believe that the action was too little, too late.
In one recent civil case, a man who suffered from cartilage damage after using a pain pump was awarded $4.75 million. The AP quoted the suit: "I-Flow encouraged surgeons to use a pain pump in an unapproved and unsafe manner."
However, not all cases are expected to receive this much success. In Florida, Douglas Kilpatrick had a similar lawsuit over the injuries that he allegedly suffered after using a pain pump. The court records show that the lawsuit was dismissed because there was no scientific proof that the pain pumps caused his injuries.
Related Resources:
- Product Liability: Background (FindLaw)
- Medical Malpractice (FindLaw)
- New York personal injury attorney (FindLaw)
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