Pittsburgh Morcellators & LPM Cancer Attorney

At Dallas W. Hartman, P.C., our Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorneys help people who have been injured by negligent surgeons and other hospital staff members. Our medical malpractice-focused attorneys diligently work with the rest of our respected team of lawyers to help our clients to the best of their ability. Particularly when it comes to women’s health, our medical malpractice attorneys understand the importance of concise arguments and detail-laden litigation.

Procedures for women’s health

Many women get routine hysterectomies for a variety of reasons. To remove uterine fibroids, patients are given two options. One is to remove them through a large, abdominal incision that would have a recovery time of about six weeks. The second is a less invasive, laparoscopic procedure, using a power morcellator with a recovery time of about three weeks. Women making this choice are often not warned of the risk of cancer, but that’s what some patients who have undergone the second type of surgery end up suffering.

Morcellator is known to spread cancerous tissue

A power morcellator is a device with small blades that are used to mince up fibroid tumors into little bits. These devices are used during hysterectomies and myomectomies instead of having to go in through a large, abdominal incision that takes more recovery time. What wasn’t thought about was what would happen after the fibroids were cut up inside the body.

Doctors are now finding that when the power morcellator goes in to mince up these fibroid tumors if cancer is present, it is basically “seeding” the patient’s body with the disease. If the fibroid contains undiagnosed cancer, like leiomyosarcoma, a smooth muscle sarcoma, the morcellator cuts it up into microscopic pieces and sprays them all over the abdominal cavity. It can cause undetected cancer to go from stage one to stage four very quickly. The life expectancy of a woman with upstaged LPM cancer is about two years.

FDA issues official warning

In April, the FDA issued an advisory warning about using laparoscopic power morcellation (LPM) during hysterectomies and myomectomies. When 18 cases of upstaged LPM cancer were later reported they held a meeting discussing ways to make the procedures safer for women and possibly giving a “black box” warning. In addition to the upstaged LPM cancer, 26 cases of other gynecologic malignancies, 39 abnormal uterine tumors, and 368 cases of endometrial hyperplasia were also found in women who had undergone this procedure.

Call Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. today for a free consultation

The Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorneys at Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. will help victims of upstaged LPM cancer to get the benefits they deserve. To learn more about how our law firm can help you, contact us today at 1-800-777-4081 for a free consultation.