In the C.R. Bard vaginal mesh multidistrict litigation, the vaginal mesh maker asked the West Virginia federal court to not allow the MDL plaintiffs to call on Bard’s own experts as expert witnesses in this vaginal mesh litigation.

Bard claims in the Oct. 22 motion concerning the vaginal mesh lawsuits that the expert’s familiarity with Bard’s product liability litigation strategy due to his role as an expert in prior Bard cases creates a potential conflict of interest.

Dr. Neeraj Kohli, one of Bard’s retained experts, already testified in the 2012 Bard vaginal mesh trial, a case that is currently being appealed. Additionally, Dr. Kohli has also consulted with Bard on at least two vaginal mesh bellwether trials in this MDL, C.R. Bard explains in its motion.

Because of the expert’s prior roles in this litigation, “Dr. Kohli’s ‘side-switching’ creates clear and substantial conflict of interest; therefore Bard respectfully requests the court enter an order disqualifying Dr. Kohli from serving as an expert for plaintiffs and from consulting in any way with plaintiffs regarding Bard’s pelvic mesh cases,” Bard argued in this vaginal mesh MDL.

Bard is not the only medical product manufacturer facing vaginal mesh lawsuits, vaginal mesh class action lawsuits, or vaginal mesh product MDLs alleging consumer injuries. Johnson & Johnson, Covidien PLC, and Boston Scientific Corp. have all come under fire for their allegedly defective and dangerous vaginal mesh or pelvic mesh products within the last year.

The Bard Vaginal Mesh MDL is In re: C.R. Bard Inc. Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2187, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Background on Vaginal Mesh

Vaginal mesh products (also known as transvaginal mesh systems) are medical devices regularly used as pelvic organ prolapse treatment. Vaginal surgical mesh is generally manufactured from porous synthetic material and then implanted in the body to repair tissue damaged by stress urinary incontinence (SUI) or pelvic organ prolapse (POP) conditions.

Until a few years ago, vaginal mesh was considered a relatively safe and effective medical device. However, in July 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a Public Health Notification warning consumers of the dangers allegedly associated with the use of vaginal or transvaginal mesh.

According to the FDA report, “over the past three years, FDA has received over 1,000 reports from nine surgical mesh manufacturers of complications that were associated with surgical mesh devices used to repair POP and SUI. These mesh devices are usually placed transvaginally utilizing tools for minimally invasive placement.”

As a result, many consumers have filed hundreds of vaginal mesh lawsuits, some of which have been consolidated in larger vaginal mesh MDLs.

Some vaginal mesh complications consumers may experience include:

• Pain during intercourse
• Urinary issues
• Pelvic organ prolapse
• Scarring in the vaginal area
• Perforated bowels, bladder, and/or blood vessels
• Mesh erosion into the vagina
• Infection
• Various organ injuries

Many of the vaginal mesh side effects listed above require surgeries and treatments, including vaginal mesh removal surgery, IV therapy, blood transfusions, and surgical draining of abscesses and hematomas.

Thousands of women across the country have filed vaginal mesh lawsuits or have joined vaginal mesh class action lawsuits alleging they sustained injuries form transvaginal mesh implant, bladder sling, vaginal sling, or other types of vaginal mesh medical device to treat a pelvic prolapse condition.