A Medical Device Daily

The Houston trial law firm Arnold & Itkin reported that it has filed five lawsuits against the makers of pain pumps and related medications based on claims that many of the companies' defective devices are causing irreversible shoulder damage among patients.

Named as defendants are several pain pump manufacturers, including, Stryker(Portgage, Michigan); Orthofix (London, England); I-Flow (Lake Forest); Moog (East Aurora, New York); Sgarlato R.P. (San Jose, California); Breg (Vista, California); Linvatec (Largo, Florida); and DJO (Vista, California).

The lawsuits also name several pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca (London), Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois), APP Pharmaceuticals (Schaumburg, Illinois) and Hospira Worldwide (Lake Forest, Illinois).

Currently, the attorneys are representing 28 people who received pain pumps to manage pain following shoulder surgery. The pumps use a catheter to deliver continuous doses of medication directly into the shoulder.

According to the lawsuits, pain pump manufacturers were denied approval by the FDA to use the pumps to mitigate pain in shoulder joints, but the companies continued to promote their use in that way.

Many former pain pump users say the companies were negligent in designing, researching and selling pain pumps that they should have known were dangerous.

The legal filings include claims of fraud, breach of warranty and products liability against the defendant manufacturers.

"The dangers of these pumps have been known for years, and even the FDA knew it was a bad idea to use them in shoulder joints," said Arnold & Itkin attorney Mike Pierce, who represents the plaintiffs. "Many of our clients have undergone multiple surgeries, all trying to fix a problem caused by these faulty pumps."

Plaintiffs allege that the pain pumps cause postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis (PAGCL), the progressive destruction of cartilage in the glenohumeral joint connecting the arm to the shoulder. Without the cartilage, bones grind together causing excruciating pain. PAGCL was first widely identified in 2004, with subsequent studies establishing a link between pain pumps and PAGCL.