Women who used power morcellators for their laparoscopic gynecological surgeries, are reportedly at risk for developing uterine cancer after hysterectomy procedures.

According to research, morcellation hysterectomies greatly increases the risk of uterine fibroid cancer due to previously dormant cancer cells being released by the devices.

Power morcellators are robotic surgical tools, specifically designed to make delicate incisions required for laparoscopic surgeries. Tiny rotating blades are attached to the device, which slice up tissue to make the extraction process easier.

Due to less invasive nature of the morcellator surgery, many women opt for morcellation hysterectomy over traditional surgery. Furthermore, power morcellators are advertised to require less hospital recovery time than traditional surgery.

Unfortunately, it has been recently discovered that women who have undergone morcellation hysterectomy have a significantly higher risk of developing uterine sarcoma. This is due to the fact that these women had previously undiagnosed uterine sarcoma, which are essentially dormant cancer cells waiting to be released.

There is currently no method available to diagnose uterine sarcoma before the morcellation procedure, leaving many women to contend with the diagnosis after their hysterectomy.

In many of these cases, the cancer was aggressive and at a latent stage at the point of discovery. Due to the rising concern of women developing cancer after hysterectomy, the FDA issued a public safety alert regarding the risk in April 2014.

In response to the FDA warnings, a number of power morcellator manufacturers had ceased selling and distributing their models.  Additionally, a number of hospitals and medical institutions no longer provide the option of morcellation hysterectomy or other power morcellator procedures.

Overview of Power Morcellator Litigation

Despite the prevalent risk of developing cancer after hysterectomy, power morcellator manufacturers allegedly concealed this fact from patients. A number of women and loved ones have filed legal action against the companies, citing negligence and other product liability allegations.

One woman from Florida had filed a claim against Karl Storz Endoscopy America, after allegedly developing cancer after hysterectomy using the Karl Storz Rotocut Morcellator. According to the morcellator cancer lawsuit, Peggy P. had undergone a morcellation hysterectomy in 2013 to remove unwanted uterine fibroids.

Sadly, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer soon after her procedure, with doctors stating that the cancer had spread throughout her abdominal cavity.

Another power morcellator lawsuit was filed by a woman from New York, who sued Ethicon Inc. Plaintiff Brenda L. had also undergone morcellation hysterectomy, and was diagnosed with acute and aggressive form of uterine cancer soon after. Brenda’s morcellator lawsuit states that the Ethicon Morcellex morcellator was used for the procedure, but the company failed to warn her of any risks.

Numerous other women and their loved ones filed similar claims, which led to the consolidation of these morcellation cancer lawsuits in October 2015. At this time, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) has combined all Ethicon power morcellator lawsuits in the U.S. District Court of Kansas before Senior District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil.