Filing a PAGCL Legal Claim
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Date of Surgery
Type of Surgery
Was Pain Pump used, either before or after Surgery
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Have you been diagnosed with or have symptoms of PAGCL?
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ABOUT SHOULDER PAIN PUMPS
A new study show that 63% of patients who have used shoulder pain pumps after an arthroscopy develop a debilitating lifelong condition.* The shoulder joint becomes extremely painful, and severely limited mobility affects normal life and interferes with work. The condition is untreatable without further surgery. This condition is called Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis (PAGCL).
Shoulder pain pump complications
Shoulder pain pumps are inserted following an arthroscopy. An arthroscopy is a simple, minimally-invasive procedure used to diagnose and repair tissue damage to joints. Oral pain relievers and narcotics do not sufficiently neutralize the pain following an arthroscopy, and often cause unwanted side effects. The controversial shoulder pain pumps are used to deliver concentrated pain relief directly to the surgery site.
Though arthroscopy is much less traumatic than open surgery, there is significant pain, and patients are sent home with an attached shoulder pain pump. The shoulder pain pump is a disposable device attached with a tube to a small container of medication worn outside the body.
Shoulder pain pumps have a defect that allows too much medication to flow directly into the shoulder cartilage tissue. Excessive medication damages the cartilage tissue. This is responsible for permanent cartilage loss and PAGCL (Post-arthroscopic Glenohumeral Chondrolysis).
Right after surgery, the patient may not notice anything unusual. The cartilage loss is often not detected at first, since the shoulder is not used much during recovery. Most cases of cartilage loss (PAGCL) occur within 5 months of using the shoulder pain pump. In a few cases, 12 months elapsed before the patient returned for further treatment. So—whether sooner or later—most patients realize that a new pain has developed. Without the cartilage, rotating the shoulder joint becomes a grinding, bone-on-bone experience. Several additional surgeries are required, and usually a complete shoulder replacement is required.
Doctors began noticing a significant increase in the cases of glenohumeral chondrolysis a few years ago. Studies have now conclusively linked this condition with use of shoulder pain pumps. Hundreds of people in the U.S. and Canada are now suffering from this condition, due to a defect in the manufacture of the shoulder pain pump devices. Shoulder pain class action lawsuits are now ongoing, in a hope to remedy this injustice. Pain pump lawyers well-versed in the specifics of this condition should be retained.