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Morcellation Media Monitoring 09/28/2015
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A Little Known Cause Of Cancer Is The Center Of Attention At A Local Race
Sep 25, 2015 | Women's Running
By Paria Hassouri
I’d like to tell you the story behind a family-organized charity 5K and the amazing woman, couple and family behind it. The run is the second annual Slay Sarcoma 5K Run/Walk. The woman behind it is Dr. Amy Reed, an anesthesiologist and immunologist, a mother of six, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and advocate for women’s health. -
Slay Sarcoma Run/Walk Set for October 17
Sep 25, 2015 | The Legal Examiner
By Jessica Hoerman
The second annual Slay Sarcoma 5k Run/Walk will be held October 17 in Yardley, Pennsylvania to create awareness about leiomyosarcoma and to raise money for needed research. Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is part of a broad group of extremely rare cancers known as sarcomas, which are aggressive and often resistant to common cancer treatments including chemotherapy and radiation. -
Risk of Upstaging Uterine Cancer is Common Issue in All Morcellator Lawsuits, Plaintiff Alleges
Sep 25, 2015 | AboutLawsuits.com
By Austin Kirk
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) is scheduled to hear oral arguments next week over whether to consolidate all power morcellator lawsuits before one judge in the federal court system. While manufacturers of the controversial medical devices have opposed centralizing the cases as part of a federal MDL, or multidistrict litigation, plaintiffs argue that all of the cases involve similar questions of fact and law over whether morcellation increases the risk of upstaging uterine cancer during a hysterectomy or myomectomy. -
Power Morcellator Lawsuit Filed In New Jersey By Deceased’s Family
Sep 25, 2015 | The Legal Herald
By Laurence Banville
A father and two daughters are named as the plaintiffs in a power morcellator case in New Jersey. Power morcellators, a surgical tool which has been used by surgeons during laparoscopic surgeries for many years, have recently been placed under scrutiny by both the medical community and the public.
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A Little Known Cause Of Cancer Is The Center Of Attention At A Local Race
Sep 25, 2015 | Women's Running
By Paria Hassouri
I’d like to tell you the story behind a family-organized charity 5K and the amazing woman, couple and family behind it. The run is the second annual Slay Sarcoma 5K Run/Walk. The woman behind it is Dr. Amy Reed, an anesthesiologist and immunologist, a mother of six, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and advocate for women’s health.
I first met Amy sometime in 1996. We had both recently started dating our then boyfriends and current husbands. Our husbands spent a good part of their childhood and all of their teen years growing up together in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Many of their weekends entailed going to each other’s homes, walking to the local Wa-Wa convenience store to buy magazines and snacks and sharing hours discussing future dreams.
I met Amy’s husband before meeting her. He greeted me with open arms, a welcoming embrace, the warmest eyes and widest smile. He was so excited to meet his childhood friend’s girlfriend, knowing that whoever I was, his friend had fallen hard for a girl, just like he had for Amy. It was so heartwarming to see these young boys turn into young men, ones who were excited that their present day reality was better than anything that they had dreamed about in those years of flipping through magazines.
Amy and her husband got married within a couple of years of us tying the knot. We had our firstborns, boys for both families, within a couple of months of each other in 2001. From 2001 to 2006, my husband and I had a total of three kids, two boys and a girl to complete our family. From 2001 to 2012, Amy and her husband had six kids, four boys and two girls, all while both completing medical degrees programs, doctorate programs, residencies and fellowships. Our family moved to Los Angeles to continue its journey, while Amy’s family moved to Boston—just before their journey took a drastic turn.
In October of 2013, Amy underwent surgery to have what were thought to be benign uterine fibroids removed. Eight days after her surgery, she found out that she did not just have benign fibroids but a hidden uterine leiomyosarcoma. Leiomyosarcomas (LMS) are malignant tumors that develop from smooth muscle tissue. They are rare and aggressive tumors, and are often resistant to radiation and chemotherapy. The tool that had been used to break up Amy’s uterus and fibroids prior to removing it, called a power morcellator, had actually caused what would have been a stage 1 cancer to spread throughout her body, making it a stage 4 cancer. Eighty-five percent of women with stage 4 LMS die within five years of diagnosis.
Over the last two years, Amy and her family have waged a tireless battle against LMS on two different fronts. The first front has been to increase patient safety practices and try to ban the use of the morcellator. Since they started bringing awareness to Amy’s story, other women whose cancer was spread from the use of a morcellator have also come forward. They have accomplished getting the FDA to issue a warning against the use of the morcellator—but not to completely ban it. They will continue to fight that battle while raising their six kids, while Amy tries to live every day that she has left with her six kids to the fullest.
The second front has been fighting LMS in the lab through research. Since LMS in the general population is extremely rare, little research is specifically devoted to it. The Second Annual Slay Sarcoma Run/Walk 5K is a charity event that raises money specifically for research on Leiomyosarcomas (LMS). It is has been organized by the incredible family of Dr. Amy Reed. Last year, through the first annual Slay Sarcoma 5K, Amy and her family were able to raise $30,000 for LMS research.
This year’s event is on Saturday, Oct. 17th just outside of Philadelphia; however runners and walkers can participate from anywhere in the U.S. as virtual runners. You can read more about Amy’s story, her family’s tireless battle to have the morcellator banned and LMS at the event website. You can sign up to participate in person or virtually, or just read Amy’s story.
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Slay Sarcoma Run/Walk Set for October 17
Sep 25, 2015 | The Legal Examiner
By Jessica Hoerman
The second annual Slay Sarcoma 5k Run/Walk will be held October 17 in Yardley, Pennsylvania to create awareness about leiomyosarcoma and to raise money for needed research. Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is part of a broad group of extremely rare cancers known as sarcomas, which are aggressive and often resistant to common cancer treatments including chemotherapy and radiation.
Surgeons performing simple, non-invasive fibroid surgical procedures sometimes utilize a surgical tool called a power morcellator, which cuts up uterine tissue along with undetected leiomyosarcoma, spreading the cancer and significantly worsening the outcome. For some women, morcellation dramatically upstaged their cancer from a potentially treatable Stage 1 cancer to an incurable Stage 4, as was the case with physician and mother of six Amy Reed.
In October of 2013, Amy Reed underwent hysterectomy surgery for what her doctors believed were uterine fibroids. Eight days later she was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, just a year after the birth of her youngest child. Because her surgeon thought Reed had a simple fibroid, she cut up the cancer inside of Amy with a morcellator. To counter the effect of morcellation, Reed was required to undergo a cytoreduction and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Recently, her LMS returned to her spine, requiring more surgery and radiation.
Campaign to Ban Morcellation Underway
Since then, Dr. Reed’s husband, cardiothoracic surgeon Hooman Noorchashm, MD, PhD, has led acampaign calling for a ban on morcellation, twice petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and meeting numerous times with members of Congress and the Senate. On April 17, the FDA announced that it discourages the use of laparoscopic power morcellators in most hysterectomy and myomectomy procedures because of the risk of spreading unsuspected cancerous tissue.
Those who cannot participate in the run/walk may donate or register as virtual runners. All donations go to LMS research and are tax deductible.
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Risk of Upstaging Uterine Cancer is Common Issue in All Morcellator Lawsuits, Plaintiff Alleges
Sep 25, 2015 | AboutLawsuits.com
By Austin Kirk
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) is scheduled to hear oral arguments next week over whether to consolidate all power morcellator lawsuits before one judge in the federal court system.
While manufacturers of the controversial medical devices have opposed centralizing the cases as part of a federal MDL, or multidistrict litigation, plaintiffs argue that all of the cases involve similar questions of fact and law over whether morcellation increases the risk of upstaging uterine cancer during a hysterectomy or myomectomy.
Power morcellators are medical devices used during minimally invasive, laparoscopic surgery to remove uterine fibroids or perform a complete hysterectomy, where the tissue is cut up and removed through a small incision in the abdomen. While the devices are designed to reduce the risk of infections or other complications associated with traditional surgery, the medical community has largely abandoned the devices over the past year, after recognizing that they may pose a serious and potentially deadly risk for some women.
Estimates suggest that about one out of every 350 women undergoing surgery for symptomatic uterine fibroids may have unsuspected sarcoma contained within their uterus. For these women, power morcellation may disseminate the contained cancer throughout the body, rapidly upstaging the leiomyosarcoma, endometrial stromal sarcoma or other uterine cancers to a very advanced stage.
There are currently several dozen product liability lawsuits pending throughout the federal court system against manufacturers of the devices, alleging that inadequate warnings were provided about the morcellator cancer risks for women undergoing the procedures or the medical community. As lawyers continue to review and file morcellator cases for women diagnosed with the spread of uterine cancer following a hysterectomy or uterine fibroid removal, it is ultimately expected that several hundred lawsuits will be filed nationwide.
In June, a group of plaintiffs filed a motion to centralize the power morcellator litigation before one judge in the federal court system, which is designed to reduce duplicative discovery into common issues in the cases, avoid conflicting rulings from different courts and the serve the convenience of the witnesses, parties and the judicial system.
Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon subsidiary, Karl Storz, Richard Wolf Medical and other manufacturers of the controversial devices have opposed the creation of a morcellator MDL, arguing that there are too many different manufacturers and types of devices involved in the cases to justify centralization, and that the lawsuits will be dominated by the individual facts of each case.
In a preliminary statement (PDF) filed earlier this month in reply to the manufacturers’ opposition, plaintiffs Andrea and Kevin Phillips indicate that the U.S. JPML should not split up the cases against different manufacturers, since all of the lawsuits involve common questions, regardless of who made the power morcellator used during the surgery.
“First, each of the related actions against all manufacturers allege the same and/or substantially similar facts,” the filing notes. “Likewise, there is commonality as to the manufacturers’ defense of these actions in that they all commonly deny that their Power Morcellators can cause the injuries alleged, and they vehemently disagree with the FDA’s findings in this regard.”
Oral arguments on the motion are scheduled for an upcoming hearing session before the U.S. JPML on October 1, at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York City.
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Power Morcellator Lawsuit Filed In New Jersey By Deceased’s Family
Sep 25, 2015 | The Legal Herald
By Laurence Banville
A father and two daughters are named as the plaintiffs in a power morcellator case in New Jersey. Power morcellators, a surgical tool which has been used by surgeons during laparoscopic surgeries for many years, have recently been placed under scrutiny by both the medical community and the public.
The morcellator is a long hollow tube through which cutting jaws can be placed. The surgeon inserts the morcellator into the body cavity through a small incision and uses it to cut and shred tissue that is then removed in tiny pieces. However, surgeons were generally unaware that as they cut through tissue, the device was also disseminating cells of that tissue to other areas of the body.
This dissemination of cells is now suspected to have lead to the progression of uterine cancer and, in some cases, death, in numerous women. These women all underwent a laparoscopic hysterectomy or myomectomy to treat uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids are growths in the uterus which can become quite large, leading to irregular menstrual bleeding and pain.
While the majority of these fibroids are benign, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently postulated that 1 in 350 women who undergo these gynecological surgeries also has undetected uterine cancer.
New Jersey Family Alleges Morcellator Spread Mother’s Uterine CancerA new power morcellator lawsuit, filed on September 16th, 2015 in the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division: Camden County under civil action number 003518, alleges that a mother died after her uterine cancer was spread by a morcellator.
Her husband and two daughters are named as the plaintiffs in the complaint. They have chosen to pursue a lawsuit against Ethicon, a subdivision of Johnson & Johnson, a power morcellator manufacturer. The complaint states that the deceased underwent a gynecological surgery on December 26th, 2012, and a Gynecare Power Morcellator was used to cut through her uterine fibroids. Unbeknownst to her family and doctors, one of these fibroids contained leiomyosarcoma (LMS).
The lawsuit alleges that “In cutting, shredding, and fragmenting the uterus and fibroids while still within the deceased, the Gynecare Power Morcellator disseminated and seeded LMS cancer throughout her abdominal cavity and causing and accelerating the metastases and spread her cancer, worsening her long-term prognosis and the natural course of her cancer.”
Despite fighting the cancer with aggressive chemotherapy treatments, she passed away less than a year later on September 16th, 2013.
This lawsuit is just one of many filed against Ethicon. In 2014, Ethicon decided to voluntarily withdraw all of their morcellators from the market and also sent letters around the globe, urging doctors to stop using the product.
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Morcellation
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