For middle-age women or those who have borne children, one of the most personal problems sometimes experienced is pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
With POP, organs like the bladder, vagina and rectum relax downward as vaginal wall muscles lose tone and strength. Symptoms of POP include leaking urine, pain during sexual intercourse or painful pressure from sagging internal organs. Many women who sought relief from POP through implant of a synthetic sling to support pelvic organs found only pain.
While mesh was intended to resolve POP, its use caused the following problems in thousands of women:
- Infection, pain and nerve damage
- Vaginal erosion as the mesh worked its way through tissue into the vagina
- Repeated surgeries to remove sections of mesh, repair tissue and mitigate resulting urinary dysfunction
To date, tens of thousands of injury lawsuits have been filed. Only a handful have been tried or settled. From those cases come these points:
- Manufacturers of transvaginal mesh being sued include Johnson & Johnson, C.R. Bard, Boston Scientific Corp. and Endo Health Solutions.
- In the multidistrict litigation (MDL) before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, there are more than 20,000 cases pending.
- To date, C.R. Bard and Johnson & Johnson have lost high-profile transvaginal mesh cases resulting in $5.5 and $10.10 million verdicts, respectively.
In September, Bloomberg reported C.R. Bard and other defendants had requested U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin to appoint a committee to initiate settlement negotiations. Johnson and Johnson is not rumored to be among companies involved in the talks.
If you are among the many women injured by defective mesh when they sought help for POP, talk to an experienced personal injury attorney in Raleigh.