Another vaginal mesh lawsuit plaintiff has been awarded a multi-million dollar settlement after a California jury determined that Ethicon’s vaginal mesh product was responsible for causing the plaintiff serious medical complications.

On March 5, plaintiff Colleen P. was awarded $5.7 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the vaginal mesh injuries she sustained from the Gynecare TVT Abbrevo, a product of Ethicon (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) designed to treat stress urinary incontinence.

Her case is the latest in a series of bellwether trials involving more than 70,000 similar lawsuits against Ethicon and manufacturers of similar products, including Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard, American Medical Systems (AMS), Coloplast, Cook Medical, Neomedic and others.

Other trials have resulted in similar multi-million dollar settlements for plaintiffs who were able to convince a jury that manufacturers negligently sold and marketed dangerous medical devices that cause deforming complications, including infections, punctured organs and mesh erosion into the vagina.

Other complications associated with transvaginal mesh, bladder sling, or vaginal mesh products include recurring pelvic organ prolapse (which the devices were inserted to manage), pain during sexual intercourse, and several other painful side effects. Some women have had to have their vaginal mesh product surgically removed.

Not all vaginal mesh lawsuits have been successful, but many have won hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars in damages for plaintiffs.

Colleen’s vaginal mesh settlement is the fourth plaintiff victory in the Ethicon vaginal mesh MDL, including for one wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died from a vaginal mesh infection.

Ethicon is currently in the middle of another bellwether trial which started just days before Colleen’s $5.7 million settlement was announced. In that case, plaintiff Dianne B. claims she experienced severe vaginal mesh complications and had to undergo multiple surgeries in order to remove her defective vaginal mesh implant.

Bellwether trials are a few cases selected from an MDL that help both parties gauge the response of the juries as well as to decide what testimony to see throughout the trial. Verdicts in bellwether trials are not representative of the rest of the MDL.

Vaginal Mesh MDL

The majority of vaginal mesh lawsuits filed across the country have been consolidated into a vaginal mesh MDL (multidistrict litigation). MDLs are commonly used to make the legal process run smoothly. They are created to, ideally, to prevent contradictory verdicts and duplication of evidence.

Tens of thousands of women have claimed that Ethicon and other manufactures created faulty products. The device was approved to treat pelvic organ prolapse and to threat stress urinary incontinence. The device is supposed to stay in the same place once inserted.

For many women, the devices moved or eroded, which caused serious vaginal mesh complications such as infections, organ damage, and other dangerous side effects.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin, who is overseeing all vaginal mesh litigation, established an MDL for each bladder sling/transvaginal mesh/vaginal mesh product. But the thousands upon thousands of women who have filed vaginal mesh lawsuits and have joined an MDL may their cases sent back to district courts.

Plaintiffs in vaginal mesh lawsuits may win millions of dollars from companies who failed to warn users about serious vaginal mesh complications.