A pelvic mesh lawsuit has joined the mass legal action over allegations that pelvic mesh lawsuits.

Multidistrict litigation or MDL is a type of legal action where the U.S. court system combines similar lawsuits into a single coordinated legal action. MDLs like those that have consolidated the pelvic mesh lawsuits are designed to help streamline the legal process by grouping similar suits together, allowing them to coordinate evidence and testimony, avoiding duplication.

Pelvic mesh is a type of surgical mesh, a medical implant designed to help support pelvic organs when their usual support structures are weakened. However, it has been alleged that pelvic mesh can cause a host of serious complications, including mesh erosion, a process where pelvic mesh cuts through the very tissues the mesh is intended to protect through friction. Pelvic mesh is also called bladder slings, transvaginal mesh, and several other names. It is commonly used to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.

Since pelvic mesh was based on existing surgical mesh technology, the makers of pelvic mesh were able to skip several steps of medical testing through the 501 (k) program of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a provision that allows the makers of drugs and medical implants to skip several steps of FDA testing protocols if their new implant is “substantially similar” to existing medical technology. However, pelvic mesh lawsuits like this one have alleged that the 501 (k) program allowed Ethicon to bypass critical safety testing, allowing a dangerous medical implant to hit the market.

In October, Plaintiff Donna Wolfe of Washington State filed a pelvic mesh lawsuit against Ethicon, a division of Johnson & Johnson concerned with medical implants, after having pelvic mesh implanted at Tacoma General Hospital. Since the MDL was already in progress when Wolfe filed her pelvic mesh lawsuit, documents do not contain many details regarding the specifics of Wolfe’s claims. But many women with pelvic mesh have had to endure surgery to correct complications from pelvic mesh.

Wolfe’s pelvic mesh lawsuit seeks to recoup costs associated with alleged pelvic mesh complications, including medical costs, lost wages, legal fees, and other costs, alleging that oversights by Ethicon led to her alleged pelvic mesh complications like mesh erosion and mesh pain.

The Ethicon Pelvic Mesh MDL is In Re: Ethicon Inc. Pelvic Repair Systems Product Liability Litigation, MDL NO. 2327, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.