“There have been so many cases, we wish to protect people in the future,” said attorney Gregory C. Gibson on Friday, one day after the complaint was filed in U.S. District Court against Myelotec, Inc.
However, the lawsuit also asks for compensatory and non-economic damages “in excess of $75,000” for each of the 19 former Rothstein patients listed in the complaint, plus punitive damages.
The complaint alleges Myelotec sold video-guided catheters to Rothstein, but those products were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with a laser.
“Myelotec representatives were present during many of the spinal surgeries conducted in Ohio and knew or should have known that the company was placing patients at risk by promoting and permitting the alteration of its devices for non-FDA approved surgical use,” the complaint says.
Efforts to reach Myelotec officials Friday were unsuccessful. Myelotec is based in Roswell, Ga. The company was founded in 1997, according to its website.
There were 19 active medical malpractice cases against Rothstein in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court at the time he declared bankruptcy in June. That bankruptcy case, still pending, halted those malpractice cases.
Rothstein claims to have pioneered a non-invasive laser spine surgery called AccuraScope. The former patients allege Rothstein’s surgery left them with nerve damage, pain, weakness, numbness, paralysis and incontinence.
Rothstein settled at least three cases before his bankruptcy and lost two trials: a $1.372 million judgment in Hamilton County and a $5 million judgment for a Clark County woman who was left with permanent brain damage due to an overdose of pain medication prescribed by Rothstein.
Gibson’s firm represents 13 of the 19 former patients with medical malpractice suits pending at the time of the bankruptcy. Gibson filed complaints in Montgomery County on behalf of two more former patients in September and another last week.
The federal complaint filed Thursday lists all 16 of those former patients, plus three more. Some are from the Dayton area. Others are from South Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Arizona and Canada.
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