MORCELLATOR LAWSUIT A now-deceased New Jersey woman claimed the use of a morcellator during her hysterectomy left her with terminal cancer.

The case of a woman who sued her hospital, her doctors and the makers of the morcellator she claimed spread undetected cancer during her hysterectomy is moving forward after her death late last year.

Viviana Ruscitto filed a lawsuit in July 2015 against The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., her surgeon and his assistant, her anesthesiologist, and Karl Storz Endovision, which made the morcellator used in her laparoscopic hysterectomy. The suit claims Ms. Ruscitto was diagnosed with terminal cancer just days after her minimally invasive hysterectomy, allegedly a result of the morcellation of undetected cancer during her surgery.

Before the procedure, Ms. Ruscitto told the court that she showed no signs of cancer. She also claimed her physicians did not warn her about the risks of using the power morcellator, though she had expressed concerns about ovarian cancer to them. Despite these apprehensions, she underwent her planned laparoscopic hysterectomy on Oct. 17, 2014.

Just 5 days after the surgery, Ms. Ruscitto was diagnosed with stage IV leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer of the connective or supportive tissues of the body. She underwent several follow-up procedures and chemotherapy in the months after; however, Ms. Ruscitto died in September 2015. She was 43.

Despite her terminal cancer, Ms. Ruscitto actively worked on her case, even testifying for it via video just days before her death. She claimed that the device should have never been used in her surgery since the FDA issued a safety communication on morcellators just 6 months earlier that discouraged their use. The FDA issued a stricter warning in November 2014, telling providers not to use the device.

The lawsuit is one of nearly 2 dozen nationwide claiming that morcellators are dangerous and can spread undetected cancer throughout patients' bodies as it breaks up tissue. However, some researchers suggest that the morcellator warnings are overblown, and that the risk of undetected uterine cancer in patients is small.

Ms. Ruscitto's case is still pending in New Jersey Federal District Court. Representatives for The Valley Hospital, Karl Storz and the physicians named in the case did not immediately return requests for comment from Outpatient Surgery.

Kendal Gapinski