Johnson & Johnson has begun to settle a number of power morcellator cancer lawsuits, according to an attorney involved in the litigation.

The morcellator cancer lawsuits are product liability cases, and many of them were only consolidated a few months ago. The company has already reached settlement agreements for many of these morcellator cancer lawsuits, out of the 100 or so that they are currently facing.

According to Aimee Wagstaff, an attorney involved in the morcellator litigation, lawyers have even more potential plaintiffs lined up, ready to join the litigation. “I know that there are hundreds that remain under investigation around the country,” she said.

The decision to consolidate many of these morcellator cancer lawsuits was made in October 2014, and was decided by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

The JPML noted that power morcellators have a far reach in the U.S. As many as 650,000 women in the U.S. have uterine fibroid removal surgery each year, and power morcellation is an increasingly popular method, so any serious defects could have devastating effects for a large number of women. 500,000 hysterectomies are performed each year, and about 11 percent use power morcellator methods.

In November 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that power morcellator devices may actually spread cancer, and so should not be used in any gynecological surgery involving cancer or fibroid removal.

What is a Power Morcellator?

A power morcellator is a surgical tool that is used to break up fibroid tissue into tiny pieces so that they can be easily removed through a small incision in the stomach. Power morcellators make extremely small incisions, and are considered less invasive than other methods.

If a patient has cancer in their uterine tissue that they are unaware of, the use of a power morcellator during a surgery can spread that uterine cancer, which will ultimately worsen the patient’s long-term survival rate.

For most women, using a power morcellator for fibroid removal shouldn’t be a problem. However, about one in 350 women who undergo either a hysterectomy or fibroid removal have unsuspected uterine cancer.

Morcellator Cancer Lawsuits

An increasing number of patients who have been diagnosed with uterine cancer after power morcellator surgery are responding by filing morcellator cancer lawsuits. These lawsuits allege that the patients’ cancer diagnoses are attributable, at least in part, to the power morcellator surgeries.

While plaintiffs do not claim that morcellators cause the cancer itself, they do allege that the devices spread the cancer, causing it to be more dangerous. These morcellator cancer lawsuits claim that, had the plaintiffs been adequately warned about power morcellator dangers like uterine cancer, they would have sought a less dangerous alternative.

If you or someone you know has undergone a fibroid removal surgery or a similar surgery where a doctor has used a power morcellator, and have since developed uterine cancer, you may be able to file a morcellator cancer lawsuit.