Ethicon and its parent company Johnson & Johnson are facing a lawsuit involving a woman who succumbed to cancer spread through a morcellator device used during a relatively routine surgery.

Plaintiff Nancy D., as administrator of the estate of Majorie H. claims that Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson knew of the risk of spreading both benign and cancerous tumors, but failed to warn not only the public, but also the medical community.

A power morcellator is a medical device that chops and grinds tissue during laparoscopic surgery so that the small chunks of tissue can be vacuumed out through small cuts in the abdomen rather than through larger incisions used in traditional surgery.

A side effect of using the morcellator is that it scatters pieces of tissue throughout the abdominal cavity where cancerous and benign tissue can seed and grow anywhere. Sometimes, even benign tissue grows around the intestines, causing obstructions. In other cases, previously undetected cancer cells attach to organs where new tumors grow.

In the case of Marjorie, the morcellator was used to perform a laparoscopic hysterectomy, which included removing her uterus, uterine fibroids, ovaries and cervix. The surgery was done to relieve her of post-menopausal bleeding.

How Did a Morcellator Spread Cancer?

During the surgery, a morcellator was used to grind the tissue for its removal. As a result of the morcellator’s unyielding ability to spew bits and pieces of tissue throughout the abdomen, cells – including cancer cells that had not yet been diagnosed – were disseminated throughout her torso’s cavity and took seed, resulting in lung cancer.

Testing of the morcellated specimens were positive for leiomyosarcoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer found in connective or supportive smooth muscle tissues of the body, including that of the uterus.

The power morcellator sprayed cancerous tissue throughout Marjorie’s abdominal cavity where it metastasized to her lungs, resulting in fatal lung cancer.

The lawsuit recognizes that the morcellator could have been fitted with a surgical bag designed to catch the spewed fragments rather than let the tissue land and seed throughout Marjorie’s body.

Tracing the Morcellator to Her Lung Cancer

Marjorie had her hysterectomy at West Virginia University Hospital on May 25, 2012.

In September 2012, Marjorie visited her doctor because she was experiencing severe back pain. A CT scan showed not only a tumor on her back, but also tumors in her abdomen and in her lungs.

The lawsuit alleges that the morcellator that shredded, grinded, and cored the organs for removal in the hysterectomy sent pieces of cancerous tissue scattering throughout her remaining organs, where the cancer took seed and grew and caused her lung cancer.

Failure to Warn of Morcellator Risks

Marjorie did not receive information prior to her surgery that the use of the morcellator included risks such as the upstaging, dissemination and seeding of cancer or the seeding of even benign tissue growth.

She was under the impression that since her surgeon provided her information regarding the risks of the surgery that she went in with full knowledge of the possible outcomes.

Use of the morcellator came with no product warnings that it could cause any yet-undiagnosed cancer to spread and become fatal lung cancer in her system merely months later.

The Power Morcellator Lawsuit is Case No. 5:1-cv-50, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.