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Alan H. Perer, senior partner at SPK, displays an example of the surgical stapler that was found to have caused the victim's death in Selepec v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.
Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Photography by Steven Adams |
TV News Reports on Daniel Selepec v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.
This case was tried in May 2007 by Alan H. Perer, senior partner at SPK, and the verdict was returned on May 24, 2007 by the jury who awarded the husband of the victim a $5 million dollar judgment.
Media Reports of Daniel Selepec v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.
- $5M Awarded in Wrongful Death Suit
May 25, 2007
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Allison M. Heinrichs
- Daniel Selepec v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.
May 25, 2007
MoreLaw.com, A Litigation Digest & Directory, Kent Morlan
- Family of Woman Killed During Botched Gastric Bypass Awarded $5M
May 24, 2007
WTAE TV
- Allegheny man wins $5M in wife's gastric bypass death suit
May 25, 2007
WFMJ.com, Julie Ocepek, Associated Press
- Pennsylvania man wins five million dollars
May 25, 2007
WKYC.com, Julie Ocepek, Associated Press
- Lawsuit Involving Local Company Settled For $5M
May 25, 2007
WCPO.com, Laura Horsby
- Cincinnati Surgical Company Sued
May 25, 2007
AkronNewsNow.com, Craig Simpson
Alan H. Perer/SPK Press Kit
Was the doctor to blame?
In the Selepec case, Ethicon's attorneys maintained that the surgeon should have used larger staples. How would the surgeon have known what size staple to use? Testimony by the doctor who performed the surgery and others at the trial revealed that there was difficult or impossible to know which size stapler to use. The basic problem for doctors and patients remains the difficulty of accessing the real history of prior failures of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. For an eye-opening critique of the way the court system handles such critical information, see the following articles:
Description of Gastric Bypass Surgery using Staples
Mayo Clinic web site
On line articles on dangers associated with Gastric Bypass Surgery
Quote regarding risks of Gastric Bypass Surgery or Staple failure
Complications of gastric bypass surgery comprise infection, leaking of the stomach resulting from a failed staple, respiratory problems, and hernias. The most grievous of these is a gastrointestinal leak that prevails in 1 out of 20 cases. The resulting infection, if not caught rapidly and treated accurately, can be deadly.
Enthicon Endo-Surgery Web Site
Follow the links onto the Johnson & Johnson site for product information:
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