U.S. Patent 7832408 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2010-11-16 and describes a “Surgical instrument having a directional switching mechanism.” This patent has been cited 496 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

A surgical instrument including a switching mechanism which allows a surgeon to selectively advance or retract a staple driver and/or cutting member within a staple cartridge. In various embodiments, the surgical instrument can include a handle, a trigger operatively coupled to the handle, a firing drive, and an end effector. The firing drive can include a first ratchet assembly configured to advance a cutting member in the end effector and a second ratchet assembly configured to retract the cutting member. The trigger can include first and second pawls pivotably mounted thereon which are configured to be selectively engaged with the first and second ratchet assemblies, respectively. In at least one embodiment, the trigger can be configured to slide between a first position in which the first pawl is engaged with the first ratchet assembly and a second position in which the second pawl is engaged with the second ratchet assembly. Link: U.S. Patent 7832408

This patent was originally filed on 2007-06-04 which gives it a processing time of 1261 days, compared to an average processing time of 1713 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Chad P. Boudreaux of Cincinnati, OH. The primary examiner was Rinaldi I. Rada.

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