C. R. Bard and Davol face a lawsuit from a consumer alleging that he suffered from serious health complications after undergoing hernia repair with meshfrom the manufacturers.

Plaintiff Kenneth H. recently filed a lawsuit against Davol Inc. and C.R. Bard, alleging that undergoing a hernia repair with mesh manufactured by the defendants caused him to sustain serious injury beyond what he was led to expect from the information provided by the companies.

In September 2014, Kenneth says he underwent hernia repair with mesh manufactured by the defendants. Unfortunately, Kenneth says he later experienced adverse side effects and underwent surgery to explant the mesh in December 2016.

During the procedure, Kenneth’s doctor allegedly noted that “There was a great deal of scar tissue particularly right in the midline at the old mesh, small bowel was adherent to the mesh. It appeared that the mesh has actually folded on itself and the small bowel was actually grown into the mesh.”

After adhesions were removed and the mesh was partially removed, Kenneth’s surgeon allegedly determined that “where the small bowel was attached to the mesh had completely grown into the bowel, there was no way I was able to remove this section. I, therefore, did a small bowel resection, removed approximately a foot and a half of small bowel.”

Hernia repair with mesh products is a common procedure. However, there are countless hernia mesh products available in varying levels of quality. Undergoing hernia repair with mesh of low quality or poor design may cause serious side effects as introducing a foreign object into the body can cause adverse reactions.

Kenneth alleges that the ePTFE Bard Mesh, which he was implanted with, is defective and prone to complications. The ePTFE mesh is composed of an ePTFE sheet and a polypropylene mesh. The polypropylene side of the mesh is intended to promote incorporation and the ePTFE side is intended to prevent adhesion formation between the polypropylene and other organs.

However, Kenneth claims that the ePTFE side of the mesh makes the product highly prone to infection and that the use of the polypropylene mesh makes it more difficult to remove the product if it becomes infected.

“The Defendants’ ePTFE Bard Mesh product is cytotoxic, immunogenic, and non-biocompatible, causing or contributing to complications such as delayed wound healing, inflammation, foreign body response, rejection, infection, and other complications,” the lawsuit claims. “These manufacturing and design defects associated with the ePTFE Bard Mesh were directly and proximately related to the injuries Plaintiff Kenneth [H.] suffered.”

Kenneth further argues that the defendants should have warned patients that hernia repair with mesh they manufacture may increase the chance for infection, adhesion, and other adverse side effects. Instead of warning consumers and physicians about the risks, the defendants allegedly concealed the risks from the public.

The lawsuit claims that, had Kenneth been warned that hernia repair with mesh by the defendants could contribute to serious health problems, he and his physician would not have chosen that mesh for his surgery.

The C. R. Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-02784-JZB in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.