One of the first morcellator cancer lawsuits filed in U.S. district court has been settled for a confidential sum before the case was slated to go to trial. Widower Scott B. brought the morcellation lawsuit against LiNA Medical in 2014 after losing his wife to an aggressive form of uterine cancer. Eleven months prior to her death, his wife had a power morcellator hysterectomy that Scott alleges led to her cancer.

For years, doctors have relied on power morcellators to help break up uterine fibroids, allowing for smaller incisions in hysterectomy and myomectomies. However, experts are concerned with the fact that many women who have undiagnosed cancer at the time of a morcellation procedure are at an increased risk of having malignant cells spread throughout the pelvic and abdominal cavity, thus shortening the patient’s life expectancy.

According to Scott’s morcellator cancer lawsuit, his wife had no documented evidence of “disseminated and/or metastatic cancer/disease” before her hysterectomy procedure in 2012. But just seven days after the operation, her physicians diagnosed her with uterine cancer.

Morcellator Cancer Lawsuit Settled Prior to Trial

Scott’s wife was only 53 when she died of uterine cancer, less than a year after her hysterectomy with morcellation.  The FDA cautions that as many as one in every 350 women is suspected of having undiagnosed uterine cancer that may be spread during a power morcellator gynecological procedure.

LiNA Medical settled the claim before it was scheduled to be tried before a jury in November 2015, ahead of at least 20 other complaints alleging that manufacturers failed to warn patients of this life-threatening risk.

Petition To Consolidate Morcellator Claims

As more morcellator cancer lawsuits alleging uterine cancer are filed, a growing number of insurance carriers and U.S. hospitals have either limited or totally banned the use of morcellators in gynecological surgeries including hysterectomy and myomectomy.

Last month, a petition was filed with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) requesting that existing federal morcellator cancer lawsuits be transferred before one judge for more efficient pretrial proceedings. This type of consolidated litigation in federal court is known as multidistrict litigation.

Lawyers will discuss the possibility of establishing an MDL for power morcellator claims at a hearing session this October.

Power Morcellator Concerns

Concern has been growing about the cancer-spreading risks associated with morcellators for years. Once used in over 60,000 procedures per year, the popularity of the power morcellator declined significantly after the FDA warned against using the device in the “vast majority” of women during hysterectomies and fibroid surgeries. Johnson & Johnson, the largest manufacturer of morcellators, pulled all of their products off the market in July 2014.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with uterine cancer following morcellation surgery, you may have grounds for compensation in the form of a legal settlement or jury award.