Pain Pump Lawsuits Continue to be filed over Shoulder Chondrolysis

Individuals who have developed shoulder chondrolysis after arthroscopic surgery continue to file pain pump lawsuits against the manufacturers of the infusion pumps used to deliver medication after surgery. The lawsuits claim that the intra-articular use of the pain pumps causes permanent shoulder cartilage damage.

The lawsuits have been filed against a number of different companies which manufacture infusion pain pumps that have been used to deliver anesthetics directly to the shoulder joint after surgery, including I-Flow Corp, Stryker Corp, Breg, Inc. and DJO, Inc. In addition, a number of manufacturers of different anesthetic drugs used in the pumps have been named in the cases.

In August, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied a motion to consolidate all of the pain pump lawsuits filed in federal courts throughout the country. The petition was filed to form an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, which would have consolidated and centralized the cases for pretrial litigation to avoid duplicate discovery and inconsistent rulings in different courts.

The MDL panel denied the request to consolidate the shoulder chondrolysis lawsuits, indicating that while the cases all involve the common question of whether the devices cause the shoulder damage, given the number of different manufacturers involved and the different anesthetic drugs used, consolidation was not appropriate.

Since that ruling, all of the different shoulder pump lawsuits have been proceeding separately as individual cases. At the time of the MDL Panel’s decision, there were about 30 lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals who claimed to have suffered shoulder chondrolysis, and the cases were filed several different federal courts throughout the United States.

While there are no confirmed figures about the number of cases currently pending, at least new three pain pump lawsuits were filed last month. The cases were filed in the U.S. District Courts in Minnesota, Vermont and New Jersey, against I-Flow Corporation, Stryker Corporation and various anesthetic drug makers.

The pain pump lawsuits allege that the manufacturers failed to adequately study the continuous delivery of medication provided by the should pumps. Doctors were encouraged to use the devices instead of other forms of pain management, even though studies had not been done to determine that it was safe.

Research published last year in the June 2007 issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine found that the intra-articular use of pain pumps after arthroscopic surgery is associated with the development of shoulder chondrolysis, which is a permanent and debilitating condition where cartilage in the shoulder joint is damaged.

Individuals who suffer from shoulder chondrolysis, also referred to as post-arthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis, often suffer severe pain, limited range of motion and could require a total shoulder replacement as a result of their injuries.