HARRISBURG — A Spring Grove couple are suing Abbott Laboratories, alleging the product used by the husband for pain on his leg caused him to have extra surgery.
Matthew and Candi Conley sued Abbott Jan. 23 in the York County Court of Common Pleas seeking to hold the company liable for injuries resulting from an allegedly defective nerve stimulator intended to treat chronic pain resulting from a lower leg amputation. He lost that part of his leg during treatment for cancer.
The product at issue is a Dorsal Root Ganglion stimulator. He was told by a St. Jude representative that it would not go into "MRI Mode" during one of Matthew's many MRIs, and he had surgery to remove it. As a result, he developed an infection, even though the surgeon determined the DRG stimulator was undamaged.
On Feb. 18, Abbott filed a motion removing the complaint to U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
According to Abbott, removal is appropriate because the Conleys are Pennsylvania residents while the company’s corporate headquarters are in Abbott Park, Ill., in north suburban Chicago. Abbott further noted the allegations “make it facially apparent that the amount in controversy exceeds the $75,000 threshold” and cited other recent medical device product liability claims in various Pennsylvania counties that resulted in verdicts as large as $13.5 million.
William J. McDonough, of Philadelphia, is representing Abbott.
Representing the Conleys is the Law Offices of Dale E. Anstine of York.