A federal court has granted summary judgment to the defendant. Kilpatrick v. Breg, Inc., No. 4:08-cv-10052 (S.D. Fla. 6/26/09), in what appears to be the first substantive decision to come out of the multiple suits alleging that a pain pump medical device damages patients.
Judge Michael Moore ruled in favor of medical device manufacturer Breg, finding that the plaintiff, who alleged damage to his shoulder cartilage, did not provide enough reliable expert evidence to link the condition to the defendant’s shoulder pain pump.
Plaintiff Kilpatrick underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery in 2004 after an orthopedic specialist discovered a tear in his shoulder socket. To help with post-operative pain, the surgeon inserted a pain pump into plaintiff’s shoulder, which would allow the doctor to administer an anesthetic via a catheter in the patient’s arm.
The surgeon injected bupivacaine into the pump’s attached catheter and further filled it with 100 ccs of anesthetic, which was to be delivered into Kilpatrick’s shoulder over the next 48 hours.
Plaintiff alleges that he began experiencing severe pain in his shoulder in 2006. An orthopedic surgeon diagnosed the pain as glenohumeral chondrolysis, a deterioration of the cartilage, and Kilpatrick underwent shoulder replacement surgery.
He then brought suit, alleging negligence, strict products liability, and violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Kilpatrick claimed that using the Breg pain pump to administer local anesthetic directly into his shoulder joint caused him to develop post-arthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis.
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