More on the Shoulder Pain Pump Saga

Posted on February 25, 2010 in Defective Product Litigation,Our Blog

The I-Flow Corporation, manufacturers of the pain pumps that have come under legal scrutiny, filed a motion for a new trial with Multnomah County on February 19, 2010. This comes on the heels of the January 22, 2010, verdict against the I-Flow Corporation. In that trial, lead attorney John Coletti won a $5.4 million verdict for his clients, Matt & Krista Beale.

In the late 1990s it became popular among surgeons to insert the pain pumps directly into the joints following shoulder surgery. Unfortunately, many patients developed chondrolysis, a debilitating and irreversible degeneration of the joint cartilage. Hundreds of lawsuits against the pain pump manufacturers, including I-Flow Corporation and McKinley Medical, are underway, and in November 2009 the FDA issued a warning to the medical community to stop using pain pumps in joints.

Still, I-Flow Corporation believes it did not receive a fair and thorough trial in Multnomah County. The company claims the plaintiff did not definitively prove its pain pump actually caused the joint cartilage to decay. I-Flow also feels its failure to warn the surgeon, Dr. Brooke Benz, about the possible risks of inserting the pain pump into the joint did not cause the patient’s injury, and so it should not be held responsible. I-Flow believes much of the blame should be placed on Dr. Benz and that the court failed to acknowledge this.

The motion will go before a judge on March 19, 2010.