According to sources, serious discussions are underway involving the remaining vaginal mesh manufacturers who have not yet settled. There are 4 big players when it comes to the controversial vaginal mesh and bladder sling devices. These include American Medical System (AMS). CR Bard, Boston Scientific and Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon.
AMS threw in the towel earlier last year, announced a multibillion dollar settlement and resolved its docket of over 20,000 lawsuits.
Since then there had been little settlement movement from the remaining big three manufacturers, until now. There is a scramble underway to try and settle these cases and not to be the last man standing or have to try thousands of cases that have been stuck in the federal court system over the past 5 years.
Johnson and Johnson Ethicon Gynecare Mesh Verdict
Johnson and Johnson (J&J) the world’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device maker is hammered in another loss in the on going transvaginal mesh wars. In the latest of a series of trials held in state and federal court, the jury has awarded $5.7 million verdict against J&J and its Ethicon subsidiary, over Ethicon’s Gynecare TVT Abbrevo device.
TransVaginal Wars Continue
There are more than 75,000 personal injury and product liability lawsuits against Ethicon and manufacturers of other similar products, including Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard, American Medical Systems (AMS), Coloplast, Cook Medical, Neomedic and others.
The majority of the lawsuits that have gone before a jury have resulted in major damage awards, and according to experts by the time the transvaginal mesh debacle resolves, the vaginal mesh settlements will likely into tens of billions of dollars.
Can any mesh company CEO face their shareholders and explain why they drove their company into bankruptcy over the proven defective plastic devices? And that they continue to sell them?
Transvaginal Mesh and Bladder Sling: No Benefit
Hundreds of thousands of women had a vaginal mesh or bladder sling implanted to treat pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence. These unfortunate women have suffered severe internal injuries, urinary problems and other catastrophic complications as a result of the plastic medical devices, which may actually provide no benefit over other traditional methods of treating pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence.
Latest California Ethicon Trial
Recently, a California state jury, ordered Ethicon to pay Coleen Perry $700,000 in compensatory damages for complications with Gynecare TVT Abbrevo mesh.
$5 Million Punitive Damages Awarded
The jury also slammed the mesh manufacturer with $5 million in punitive damages, after they found the company acted with gross negligence.
Punitive damages are designed to punish Ethicon for acting with malice towards Perry and other women, finding that the company knew that the TVT Abbrevo vaginal mesh caused severe and serious complications, but failed to warn the doctors or patients.
Ethicon Federal Trial Currently Underway
There is a federal trial currently in progress involving Ethicon mesh in the U.S. District Court in West Virginia. Here, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin is overseeing seven different multidistrict litigations (MDLs) established for cases against different manufacturers.
Federal Vaginal Mesh MDL Litigation
The federal complaints blame the products which are used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI). The injured women claim that the products are defectively designed and cause serious complications, including infections, puncturing vital organs and eroding or perforating through the vagina.
Dianne Bellew is the current plaintiff, and this case is the third federal Ethicon lawsuit to go to trial. Bellew alleges she suffered multiple injuries due to the Ethicon Gynecare Prolift vaginal mesh, including mesh erosion, mesh contraction, inflammation, pain during sexual intercourse, urinary incontinence, chronic pain, and recurring prolapse of organs.
According to Bellew, she has undergone at least four operations to have the mesh removed.
