Ethicon Inc. reached a settlement earlier this month in a vaginal mesh bellwether trial in a U.S. District Court in West Virginia. The announcement of a settlement comes on the heels of a state court jury in California delivering a $5.7 million verdict in a vaginal mesh lawsuit.

Plaintiff Diane B., the lead plaintiff in one of the vaginal mesh bellwether trials over vaginal mesh made by Ethicon, had her claims resolved after five days of trial against the Johnson & Johnson medical subsidiary. Her case is one of 70,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits pending in federal and state courts against vaginal and pelvic mesh manufacturers Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard, American Medical Systems (AMS), Coloplast, among others.

The thousands of plaintiffs represented in these vaginal mesh lawsuits similarly allege that the medical devices’ design defects caused many women to experience painful, debilitating, and even permanent vaginal mesh complications. All vaginal mesh lawsuits filed in the U.S. federal court system were centralized in a vaginal mesh multidistrict litigation (or MDL) for pretrial proceedings in West Virginia court before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin.

As part of the vaginal mesh MDL, Diane’s case was the latest vaginal mesh lawsuit to go before the court in a bellwether trial. Bellwether cases are chosen to go to trial first to allow both plaintiffs and defendants to see how a jury may react to certain evidence and testimony in future trials. Bellwether trials may also lead to early settlements.

The details of Diane’s vaginal mesh settlement were not released to the public. However, her case is the latest in a growing number of individual vaginal mesh settlements that the manufacturer has reached in many individual cases. Judge Goodwin is pushing all parties involved to resolve a larger number of vaginal mesh lawsuits, especially given the size of the vaginal mesh MDL.

Of the vaginal mesh lawsuits currently presided over by Judge Goodwin, 23,523 are against Ethicon.

Background on Vaginal Mesh

Vaginal mesh products (also known as transvaginal mesh systems or vaginal slings) are medical devices made from porous synthetic materials that are implanted in the body to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.

Vaginal mesh was once considered a safe medical device. However,  a few years ago, reports began to spring up alleging vaginal mesh complications. As a result of these reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a medical device warning in July 2011, informing consumers of the possible risks associated with the use of vaginal or transvaginal mesh products like those produced by Ethicon.

Some vaginal mesh side effects consumers may experience include:

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

Many vaginal mesh side effects require additional surgeries and treatments, resulting in more pain, suffering, and financial burden for the women suffering from an allegedly defective vaginal mesh implant.