Surgical Staple Malpractice Lawyers Review Claims Nationwide
The medical malpractice lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. have evaluated a number of cases in recent years involving complications with surgery staples.
In many cases, these injuries and deaths are not the result of a surgical error or mistake, but rather were caused by design defects associated with certain internal staplers used at hospitals nationwide in recent years.
From January 2011 to March 2018, FDA received over 41,000 different reports involving issues with surgery staplers and staples for internal use, including:
- 32,000 Surgical Stapler Malfunctions
- 9,000 “Serious” Internal Staple Injuries
- 366 Deaths Linked to Surgical Staples
Often these problems were caused by product defects, resulting in increased regulatory actions, warnings and surgical stapler recalls in recent years.
Request a free consultation and claim evaluation to review a potential surgical stapler lawsuits. All cases are reviewed under a contingency fee agreement, which means there are no fees or expenses unless a recovery is obtained. Find out if you have a case.
Surgery Staples Problems
Surgical staplers are a medical device commonly used during gastrointestinal, colorectal, bariatric or other procedures to close internal organ wounds.
In early 2019, the FDA notified doctors about an increasing number of reports involving problems with surgical staples used internally, which may result in a number of severe and potentially life-threatening complications, including:
- Internal Bleeding
- Post-Surgical Infection
- Sepsis
- Prolonged or Repeated Surgery Procedures
- Fistula Formation
- Organ Perforation
- Tearing of Internal Tissue
- Internal Leakage
- Digestive Problems
- Cancer Recurrence
- Wrongful Death
This federal regulatory warning was issued after thousands of adverse event reports were identified involving problems with surgery staples that resulted in severe injury or patient deaths, including a series of major surgical stapler recalls issued in recent years.
Internal staplers may now be reclassified as moderate risk surgical devices, requiring more stringent premarket approval before they are sold to medical professionals. However, it appears that a number of dangerous and defective products have been sold by Covidien, Ethicon and other manufacturers in recent years.
According to adverse event reports, the most commonly reported surgical stapler problems include:
- Opening of the Staple Line
- Staple Malformations
- Staplers Misfiring
- Staplers Unable To Fire
- Staplers Too Difficult To Use
- Misapplication Of Staples
Surgical Stapler Case Evaluations
The lawyers at Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. provide free consultations and claim evaluations to help determine whether financial compensation may be available through a surgical stapler lawsuit.
After submitting a request for for our lawyers to review your case, you will be contacted a member of law firm to review the circumstances involved in your surgical stapler injury and we can help find out whether the problems may have been caused by a defective or recalled device.
If our lawyers determine that you may have a case, THEN YOU DECIDE whether to move forward and hire our law firm to pursue compensation. There are no up-front costs associated with retaining our law firm, and we only receive an attorney fee or reimbursement of expenses if a settlement or recovery is obtained.
Timeline of Surgery Stapler Recalls, Warnings and Lawsuits
May 2012
Covidien Roticulator Surgical Stapler Recall issued over sterility problems.
August 2012
More than 500 lots of Ethicon Endo-Surgery Proximate Staplers recalled due to risk of misfiring.
October 2012
Ethicon Endo-Surgery Circular Stapler recall issued over reports of incomplete firing strokes, which could cause faulty staple formation.
August 2014
Ethicon Proximate Stapler recall issued over misfirings.
December 2015
California jury awards $80 million, including $70 million in punitive damages, to a woman whose anal canal was stapled shut after an Ethicon Proximate surgical stapler misfired during surgery.
March 8, 2019
FDA warns doctors it has received reports of more than 9,000 serious stapler injuries and 366 deaths linked to internal surgery staples. All of the deaths were associated with either Ethicon or Covidien products. The agency advised doctors against using them on large blood vessels.
April 23, 2019
FDA publishes proposed rule and guidance changes which call for more stringent approval processes for surgical staplers.
May 2019
An investigative report reveals that some manufacturers were granted exemptions that allowed them to avoid reporting more than half of all surgical stapler complications, which may have helped hide the true scope of the problem for years.
May 30, 2019
An FDA advisory panel endorses FDA plan to classify surgical staplers as moderate-risk medical devices.
Allegations Raised in Surgical Stapler Class Action and Injury Lawsuits
Product liability and surgical stapler class action lawsuits have been filed against Ethicon, Covidien and other manufacturers of recalled and defective devices, including allegations that the manufacturers:
- Sold unreasonably dangerous and defective surgical staplers;
- Failed to warn about the risk of surgical stapler malfunctions, misfires and failure to fire;
- Failed to provide proper training and instruction on the safe use of staplers;
- Failed to promptly recall surgical staplers;
- Placed desire for profits before the health and safety of patients.
No Fees or Expenses Unless You Receive a Surgical Staples Settlement
Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. is a nationally known injury law firm that is focused exclusively on representing individuals, we do not represent corporations or insurance companies.
Over the course of more than 40 years, clients of our law firm have collected more than $1 billion in compensation in cases involving product liability, medical malpractice, automobile accidents and other personal injury lawsuits.
All surgical stapler injury cases are being handled on a contingency fee basis, which means that there are never any out-of-pocket costs to hire our lawyers and we receive no fees or expenses unless a recovery is obtained.
Protect your family and find out if you or a loved one may be entitled to a surgical staple injury settlement.