Covidien Awarded Summary Judgment in Mass. Federal Surgical Stapler Case

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has awarded Covidien summary judgment on claims for failure to warn and misrepresentation in a surgical stapler case, finding the plaintiffs failed to show how their surgeon’s decision to use the device was affected by defendants’ alleged misuse of the FDA's Alternative Summary Reporting (ASR) Program.

On Sept. 13, Judge Denise Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts further found the plaintiffs’ negligent misrepresentation claim fails, because plaintiffs failed to specify what “false information” was supplied by defendants.

Brian Corrigan underwent a laparoscopic sigmoidectomy with end-to-end anastomosis, laparoscopic mobilization of …