Dozens Of New Lawsuits Filed In Counterfeit Surgical Screws Case

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — More than two dozen plaintiffs have signed on to a massive lawsuit concerning an alleged scheme in which patients received non-FDA approved screws during spine and back surgery.

"The fraudulent non-FDA conforming devices were installed in people's bodies at a very low cost to the providers," attorney Brian Kabateck said Friday afternoon. "They were then fraudulently billing the insurance companies, the worker's comp carriers, and making thousands and thousands of dollars off of each patient."

Officials said 28 new cases were filed at the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, making a total of 32 pending cases.

Derika Moses, who said she has had 23 surgeries on her back since 2008, is one of the plaintiffs.

"This has been terrible, worst thing that's ever happened to me...not knowing if the stuff still in me they couldn't get out will one day kill me,"  Moses said  outside of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Grand Avenue on Friday afternoon.

"I was left in extreme physical and mental pain as well as left with permanent disabilities and disfigurements," she said.

Several lawsuits filed across the state have also claimed the metal screws were produced in a Temecula machine shop, authorities have said.

Within the lawsuit, the shop owner and several doctors are listed for taking kickbacks while hospitals profited from selling the fake screws, Kabateck said.

According to attorneys, Spinal Solutions LLC is the company accused of distributing and inflating the cost of the screws.

Michael Drobot, the former owner of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, is accused of overseeing the scheme that included making cheap screws and distributing them to different hospitals, Kabateck explained.

Drobot's attorney, Terree Bowers, disputes that claim.

"Michael Drobot and Pacific Hospital had absolutely nothing to do with allegations concerning the counterfeit screws," Bowers told KCAL9's Rachel Kim on Friday.

Bowers said Drobot has admitted to giving kickbacks to physicians, but said all of those surgeries were medically needed and authorized by insurance companies.

Right now the plaintiffs' attorneys say there may be thousands of other victims, and they want justice for those like Moses.

"Think about somebody other than yourself for once," Moses said Friday. "All the people's lives you might have placed in danger."