Patent ID: 8529580

Claim:
A surgical grasping instrument, comprising: upper and lower elongated arms, each &the arms having an anterior end and a posterior end, the arms being maintained in sliding contact; upper and lower U-shaped jaws, the lower jaw rigidly extending from the anterior end of the lower arm, the upper jaw being pivotally attached to both the anterior end of the upper arm and the anterior end of the lower arm, the upper jaw pivoting away from the lower jaw when the upper arm slides rearward relative to the lower arm, the upper jaw pivoting towards the lower jaw to grasp an object between the jaws when the upper arm slides forward relative to the lower arm, and a forward handle and a rearward handle, each of the handles having a finger loop, the rearward handle being rigidly attached to the posterior end of the lower arm, the forward handle being pivotally attached to the rearward handle and pivotally attached to the upper arm so that pivoting the forward handle relative to the rearward handle slides the upper arm relative to the lower arm, thereby pivoting the upper jaw towards or away from the tower jaw to grasp or release the object; wherein said upper and lower jaws are dimensioned and configured to grasp a circular flange of a tympanostomy tube therebetween and position the tympanostomy tube in a slit within a tympanic membrane.