A North White Plains surgical instruments manufacturer has petitioned for bankruptcy protection citing high interest rates on loans and wasteful spending by a previous manager.
Laschal Surgical Instruments LLC declared $312,778 in assets and $481,700 in liabilities, in a Chapter 11 reorganization petition filed on March 23 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains.
Laschal is “recognized as a luxury-brand instrument provider,” CEO Daniel Lasner stated in a declaration, and is “commonly referred to by surgeons as the Rolls Royce of instruments.”
Lasner’s father, Dr. Jeffrey Lasner, a dentist, founded Laschal in 1978. It specializes in dental tools such as forceps, probes, and retractors, and it claims that the steel it uses is lightweight yet longer-lasting than traditional carbon steel instruments.
It leases offices in the 690 North White Professional Building on North Broadway.
Lasner attributed some of the financial woes to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019 the business grew by 65%, he says, but with the onset of the pandemic in 2020 revenue declined by 80%. When markets opened up in 2023, revenue reached pre-pandemic levels.
But when Daniel took control in November 2024, he discovered more than $700,000 in debt, according to his declaration. He claims that prior management used the business for “personal reasons” and drove the business into financial distress by maxing out loans, lines of credit, and credit cards “with no revenue to show for it.”
Lasner says he has eliminated wasteful spending, and last year Laschal turned a profit for the first time since 2019: $160,000 on $900,000 in sales. Still, the business is constrained by high interest rates and unwillingness by lenders to negotiate new terms.
Restructuring the debts in bankruptcy, Lasner says, will give the company a chance. “With appropriate debt relief, within a few short years, it is well within reason to say the company will grow rapidly and create jobs, while continuing to improve surgical outcomes.”
