Ethicon: Were you a patient who had gastric bypass surgery? Did you receive a mail about a class action on the settlement to resolve claims about the production and sale of defective products that failed to keep the suture lines closed? This review will help you partake in the class action settlement after confirming the authenticity of the mail.
What Is Gastric Bypass Surgery Stomach Staples Class Action Settlement?
Patients who had gastric bypass surgery have filed lawsuits against the companies that manufactured the staples used in their surgeries, alleging that these companies made and sold defective products that failed to keep the suture lines closed.
Many of these stomach staples were recalled last year due to these defects. Stomach staple-line failures can be potentially lethal, essentially allowing the contents from the patient’s stomach to move into the intestines, leading to a variety of medical problems.
The fact that the devices failed unexpectedly has led many patients to file stomach staple lawsuits against manufacturing companies. For example, in May 2007, a jury found Ethicon guilty of manufacturing defective stomach staples in a wrongful death lawsuit.
It was determined that the Ethicon stapler was defective because it failed to form proper staples, which allowed the patient’s stomach contents to leak into her intestinal cavity. The jury in this case awarded the family $5 million.
What Is This Class Action All About?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly received more than 9,000 adverse event reports in relation to the stomach staples.
More specifically, 90 percent of these reports involved malfunctions where the staplers did not fire or form properly, and more than 112 deaths have been linked to these allegedly defective staples.
As of now, the FDA has received approximately 100 death reports that were allegedly caused by the stomach staples. Ethicon had begun manufacturing these gastric bypass staples in 1999, and has been indicated to have received numerous reports of “staple line failures.”
Ethicon has reportedly passed blame onto the surgeons instead of addressing any potential problem with the staples themselves. This changed on May 13, 2013, when Ethicon issued a worldwide voluntary Class II recall of its ECHELON 60mm Black Reload (ECR60T) staples after it was discovered that they could break during the firing sequence. This caused the stapler to misfire or stay locked onto tissue, which created an incomplete staple line.
If stomach staples do not properly close all the way or fail to puncture completely through the tissue, it can cause the surgical site to leak, which allows fluid or blood from the stomach to flow into the abdominal cavity.
Gastric bypass surgery is the most commonly performed weight loss surgery in the United States, with more than 177,000 procedures performed each year. Ethicon controls nearly two-thirds of the gastric bypass stapler market, which could lead gastric bypass stapler lawsuits to be directed at them.
During the trial, Ethicon argued that the staples had become undone due to surgical error, and that the product had worked as advertised. The jury felt differently, because the gastric bypass surgeons had no way to accurately determine stomach tissue thickness in order to always choose the proper staple cartridge. Essentially, instead of automatically going to the right setting, the stomach staples reportedly failed due to being unable to hold up the stomach tissue.
Other defective stomach staple lawsuits have cited several severe side effects that have occurred from alleged device failure including:
- Bleeding
- Dehiscence (separation of areas that are stitched or stapled together)
- Anastomotic leakage
- Hernia, etc.
In general, stomach stapler lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.
Who Is Eligible?
The settlement benefits all class members who had gastric bypass surgery and had stomach staple-line failures.
How To Be Part of This Settlement
For a class member to partake in this settlement, they must submit their Valid claim on the settlement website.
What Is The Pay For This Settlement?
The pay for this settlement varies and the proof of purchase is not necessary.
Conclusion
As you submit your claim to the settlement website, just like Camp Lejeune class action settlement we have reviewed , you’re doing so under penalty of perjury. You are also harming other eligible Class Members by submitting a fraudulent claim.
