Surgical Stapler Injuries

Surgical staplers are medical devices often used during surgery to repair and close wounds. The FDA recalled certain surgical staplers due to concerns that the staplers may cause serious injuries or death.

The FDA has also announced a sweeping plan to review and address the safety of surgical
staplers, including a new examination of seven years' worth of hidden reports of severe injury.

Since 2016, at least 1.1 million surgical stapler incidents have been filed into a hidden repository of reports, instead of being placed in the public database which medical experts trust to identify problems that could put patients in jeopardy. The hidden database contains serious injury and malfunction reports for about 100 medical devices many implanted in patients or used in countless surgeries. Agency records show that more than 480,000 injuries or malfunctions were reported through the hidden program in 2017 alone.

Complications with surgical staplers may be severe and life altering, including leading to:

• Sepsis
• Severe Bleeding
• Need for a permanent ostomy “bag”
• Leak in the closure (anastomotic leak)
• Additional surgeries
• Death

Contact Scovern Law

If you have been injured or know a family member who died due to a malfunctioning surgical
stapler; call your hospital and ask for your surgical report, then please call Scovern Law at 1.888.725.1890.