Johnson & Johnson is facing a new Ethicon Proceed mesh lawsuit alleging serious hernia mesh complications, which required the patient to undergo revision surgery.

This Ethicon Proceed mesh lawsuit was filed by a woman from Missouri, who agreed to have the hernia mesh product implanted to treat a personal health problem. Plaintiff Rebekah B. filed her lawsuit soon after discovering that other patients suffered similar injuries soon after using the hernia mesh product.

Like millions of other patients in the United States, Rebekah says she opted for the Ethicon Proceed mesh for incisional hernia repair and had no reason to believe she was at risk for serious complications.

The Ethicon Proceed mesh product consists of a polypropylene mesh that is coated by polydioxanone, which is designed to promote healing and minimize adhesion and inflammation. This means that the hernia mesh product is supposed to be incorporated into the body without serious complication, and is supposed to help encourage the muscle to recover from a hernia.

With these benefits in mind, Rebekah says she agreed to have the hernia mesh product implanted and underwent the procedure on June 8, 2011. However, she allegedly started experiencing serious problems from the hernia mesh not long after the surgery.

According to her Ethicon Proceed mesh lawsuit, Rebekah underwent revision surgery on Sept. 30, 2013, but the doctors were unable to remove the mesh due to mesh adhesion complications. The surgeons noted that “the intra-abdominal adhesions including small-bowel adhesions, colonic adhesions, omental adhesions were lysed from the anterior abdominal wall as well as the mesh.”

Rebekah says she continues to experience the long lasting effects of these hernia mesh complications and has been forced to contend with a lesser quality of life. Her Ethicon Proceed mesh lawsuit also notes that she suffered severe and permanent scarring and other physical injuries, which caused her to lose work while incurring massive medical bills.

Overview of Hernia Mesh Complications

The hernia mesh complications in this Ethicon Proceed mesh lawsuit reportedly stem from the polydioxanone and polypropylene mesh material, which allegedly caused infection from the muscle inflammation. Other hernia mesh infections have been found with other brands of hernia mesh as well.

When the muscle inflammation does not go down, infection can develop and can cause flu like symptoms such as fever and nausea. Another sign of hernia mesh failure is lack of healing in the incision site as well as heat emission; these are also signs of infection.

Hernia mesh infection should be treated as soon as possible because antibiotic resistant bacterial colonies called biofilms can form, which are very difficult to treat. While antibiotic treatment can be used to help alleviate symptoms, only revision surgery can be used to cure it because the defective mesh must be removed.

It is important to note that revision surgery is considered riskier than the initial implant surgery, due to a higher risk of infection.

Even though these hernia mesh complications can be devastating to patients, some patients say Johnson & Johnson allegedly failed to disclose this information to the public. Rebekah states that if she had known about the severity of the potential hernia mesh risks, she would not have agreed to have the company’s hernia mesh product implanted.

This Ethicon Proceed mesh lawsuit is Case No. 4:18-cv-01647, in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Missouri.