A recent power morcellator lawsuit was filed in a Wisconsin federal court against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Ethicon, alleging that a Gynecare power morcellator caused undiagnosed leiomyosarcoma, a deadly aggressive form of uterine cancer, to spread throughout the plaintiff’s body.

Plaintiff Babette D. underwent a routine laparoscopic hysterectomy in November 2008 performed using a Gynecare power morcellator device. Through a small cut in her abdomen doctors were able to use the power morcellator to masticate the necessary organs and extract the tissue.

Babette’s power morcellator lawsuit alleges that Ethicon did not provide sufficient warning of the cancer risks associated with use of a power morcellator. In the case of unknown cancerous tumors, like leiomyosarcoma, morcellation allows small numbers of hidden cancer cells to spread rapidly throughout her body.

Following her leiomyosarcoma diagnosis, Ms. Davis was prescribed chemotherapy. However, despite these efforts, in April 2009 large masses were found in her abdomen and pelvis.

Babette was forced to undergo additional chemotherapy and now continues to take harsh oral chemotherapy medication.

Leiomyosarcoma Cancer

Leiomyosarcoma is a cancer of smooth muscle cells that can occur in the uterus, stomach and intestines, walls of all blood vessels, and skin. While this cancer is very rare, there is no reliable test to diagnose potential malignancy in uterine fibroids before a woman undergoes morcellation. If the cancer is present during morcellation use, the cells can be spread throughout the body, quickly changing a stage 1 cancer into stage 4.

In December 2013, four Boston-area doctors submitted a draft paper to the New England Journal of Medicine calling for a moratorium on morcellation, asserting that a much higher number of women than previously thought have undetected cancer in their fibroids.

The team reviewed 10 studies of 30,000 women who had undergone morcellation, and found that nearly 1 in 400 women were found to have uterine cancer in the removed tissue.

In November 2012, a study published by doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital looked at nearly 1,100 morcellation-aided procedures performed at the facility, and found the rate of uterine sarcoma was 1 in 546. They concluded that the rate of the far-deadlier leiomyosarcoma was nearly 1 in 1,000.

According to the authors of the study, the occurrence of leiomyosarcoma was “much higher than the empiric rate of 1-in-10,000 typically quoted to patients during their pre-procedure briefing.”

Filing a Power Morcellator Lawsuit

Over the past decade, power morcellators have been widely used in both laparoscopic hysterectomy and fibroid removal surgeries. Patients who have developed uterine uterine cancer due to these power morcellator-aided procedures are now filing product liability lawsuits claiming that the manufacturers of power morcellator devices were aware of the cancers risks and failed to warn patients and doctors.

If you or a loved one have undergone a procedure where a power morcellator may have been used and suffered injury, you may be eligible for compensation.