Calif. Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Ethicon Gastric Lap Band Case

LOS ANGELES — A California appellate court has upheld dismissal of a case in which a woman died of septic shock after being implanted with Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.’s gastric lap band, affirming that the plaintiffs’ failure to bring the action to trial within five years was fatal to the claims.

In a Feb. 7 order, the California Court of Appeal held that the plaintiffs waited too long in seeking a second, stipulated extension of the deadline to bring the matter to trial.

In 2008, Rosa Gonzalez contacted 1-800-GET-THIN about getting a gastric lap band device surgically implanted to help her …