Two eyelash-sized titanium surgical staples failed to close completely during an East McKeesport woman's weight-loss surgery, and she died.
That equipment failure is worth $5 million, an Allegheny County jury decided Thursday.
"I think that the public should know about this, and I think the company should step up, admit this problem and adequately address it," said Alan Perer, the Downtown attorney who won the wrongful death lawsuit.
Perer represented Daniel Selepec, 53, of East McKeesport, in his lawsuit against Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., of Cincinnati, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. Selepec's wife, Sandra, died in August 2002 after West Penn Hospital doctors stapled her stomach with an endocutter surgical stapler made by Ethicon.
Sandra Selepec, 40, also left behind a son, Michael, now 17.
Doctors had diagnosed Selepec as morbidly obese -- she weighed 350 pounds -- and she suffered from back and knee pain, diabetes, depression and asthma.
In an attempt to lose some of the weight responsible for her medical problems, Selepec underwent gastric bypass surgery -- an operation that 177,600 people had last year in the United States, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.
The day after surgery, doctors discovered her stomach was leaking and operated again to fix it, according to the lawsuit. She never regained consciousness and died 20 days later from post-operative complications.
Perer persuaded the jury that the leak occurred because the staples did not fully close. He said the company was responsible because the stapler was defective.
Ethicon lawyers argued the staples didn't close because they were too small to cinch around Selepec's stomach tissue and that larger staples should have been used.
The company's lawyers did not respond to repeated requests for comment yesterday. Ethicon declined to be interviewed, but issued this statement:
"Ethicon Endo-Surgery believes what happened to Sandra Selepec was a tragedy and we are very sympathetic to Mr. Selepec and Ms. Selepec's family. However, we firmly stand behind our products. We disagree with the jury's verdict, and plan to appeal the decision."
The jury, which began hearing the case May 14 before Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Horgos, deliberated for 4 1/2 hours.
Because of the company's plans to appeal, Daniel Selepec declined to comment.
"He's very gratified that the truth came out," Perer said. "He was really searching for the truth -- he wanted to find out why his wife died."
