The Fourth Circuit recently confirmed that a Utah woman’s vaginal mesh implant lawsuit has been tossed out of the pending multidistrict litigation or MDL.

Plaintiff Brenda R. claimed that her vaginal mesh implant caused her various painful complications and eventually led to revision surgery.

However, she did not make the connection between the vaginal mesh device and her symptoms until several years after the initial surgery.

Because it took so long for Brenda to make the connection between her pain and the vaginal mesh implant, the lower court in charge of the vaginal mesh MDL ruled that her case was barred from the multidistrict litigation due to a two-year statute of limitations.

According to the court, Brenda should have begun questioning the effectiveness of her vaginal mesh implant much earlier in order to qualify for the MDL.

Brenda’s doctor, Dr. Clayton Wilde, told her that her pain was due to her vaginal mesh implant on April 25, 2007.

However, he allegedly attributed the pain to sexual intercourse rather than the implant itself.  Because of this, Brenda believed that her actions were the cause of her symptoms, as opposed to the vaginal mesh itself.

Dr. Wilde advised revision surgery to correct her symptoms. However, vaginal mesh revision surgery did nothing to correct her pain.

Because of the failure of this surgery, Brenda should have recognized that the vaginal mesh must be the cause of her symptoms, according to the court.

According to the Fourth Circuit’s report, “By that point, [Brenda R.] was on inquiry notice that the mesh could be the cause-in-fact of her harm and was required to perform due diligence to determine if it was the actual cause.”

Though the court ruled that the statute of limitations required that Brenda question her vaginal mesh implant’s effectiveness within two years, she first considered the possibility of the mesh’s defectiveness in February 2012, when she saw an advert about vaginal mesh complications.

She had been seeking treatment for her symptoms for years, long after the statute of limitations had run out, the court ruled.

After Brenda saw the advert, she sought a second opinion from a doctor other than the one that recommended revision surgery. At that point, she had the vaginal mesh extracted entirely.

Immediately afterward, Brenda sued Boston Scientific on several counts, including negligence.

About Vaginal Mesh Litigation

The vaginal mesh MDL that Brenda’s lawsuit was tossed from is currently ongoing.

The presiding Judge, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, has dismissed several suits against vaginal mesh manufacturers that had already been settled.

There are other MDLs targeting vaginal mesh manufacturers across the country. In total, these vaginal mesh lawsuits over allegedly defective devices number around 70,000.

Vaginal mesh lawsuits like these have caused several manufacturers have to stop making vaginal mesh products entirely.

In 2012, the FDA warned that vaginal mesh manufacturers should conduct further tests to determine whether their products are as safe and effective as they should be.

If you or someone you know has suffered from complications due to a defective vaginal mesh implant, you may be able to file a vaginal mesh lawsuit.

The Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit is Case No. 15-1441, in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.