SASKATOON - Two Saskatchewan residents have filed a statement of claim for a class-action suit against a manufacturer of pain pumps - portable medical devices that deliver local anesthetic directly to the site of a surgery.
The defendants include Donjoy Inc., a U.S. company, and DJ Ortho, Canada Inc., licensed by Health Canada as an importer of medical devices.
The statement of claim says Sean Schroeder of Saskatoon and Curtis Veinot of Rosthern, Sask., both developed chondrolysis, a painful condition that involves a loss of cartilage, following shoulder surgery that involved use of the pain pump.
The statement of claim alleges pain pumps caused the serious adverse reaction, and the defendants "knew or ought to have known that their pain pumps can cause chondrolysis when injected into the synovial cavity."
The statement includes allegations which have not been proven in court.
Lawyer Doug Lennox of the law firm Klein Lyons said Monday in Toronto that the defendants have 30 days to respond to the statement of claim, dated Feb. 29.
Donjoy Inc. referred calls seeking comment to DJ Ortho, Canada Inc., in Mississauga, Ont., where a person who took a call said there would be "no comment at the moment."
