Stryker Shoulder Pain Pump Lawsuit Settled Days Before Trial

Stryker Corporation has reached an agreement to settle a shoulder pain pump lawsuit brought by six people who allege that they suffered permanent damage to the cartilage in their shoulder after using one of the company’s devices to deliver pain medication after arthroscopic surgery. 

A lawsuit brought by Erika Creech, David Elder, Tyler Jones, Cody Thygesen, Julie Olsen and Jordan Schweizer was settled 18 days ago, resolving the case before a trial that was scheduled to begin today.

The settlement agreement came less than a month after a federal judge in Utah rejected Stryker’s attempt to have the 2007 complaint thrown out. Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

According to the complaint, all of the plaintiffs received a Stryker pain pump following shoulder surgeries between February 2003 and February 2004. Plaintiffs allege that the combination of drugs delivered directly into their shoulder joints during the days after surgery caused the cartilage to deteriorate.

Known as chondrolysis, the painful and permanent loss of cartilage can cause decreased range of motion, pain, popping and grinding of the joint, which often leads to the need for a total joint replacement. 

The complaint is similar to a number of other shoulder pain pump lawsuits currently pending in courts throughout the United States against Stryker and other manufacturers of similar devices, including I-Flow, Breg, DePuy, Inc. and Smith & Nephew, Inc.

In November 2009, the FDA required manufacturers of the pumps and the local anesthetics used with the devices to add new warnings about the risk of chondrolysis from should pain pumps. The warnings were designed to alert healthcare professionals that the use of pain pumps following shoulder surgery to infuse medication directly into the joint increases the risk of chondrolysis, particularly involving the shoulder.