Across the country, women are reporting suffering vaginal mesh complications and had to undergo revision surgery to treat the injuries. Many of these women have opted to file legal action against the manufacturing companies, which has already resulted in millions of dollars in compensation through vaginal mesh settlements.

Recently the rate of injury reports regarding vaginal mesh complications reached a new high, which caused the FDA to reclassify these products as Class III medical devices in 2016. This class designation is only reserved for the riskiest medical devices approved by the FDA.

Even though vaginal mesh products have been on the market since 2002, injury reports have been submitted since the 1990s when vaginal mesh was used for off label treatment of pelvic organ prolapse. However in 2011, the FDA reported that it had received nearly 4,000 reports of vaginal mesh complications between 2005 and 2010.

The agency had concluded these occurrences were “not rare”, and that vaginal mesh procedures were no more effective than standard surgeries.

Overview of Vaginal Mesh Complications

Thousands of women filed legal action after experiencing vaginal mesh complications, soon after undergoing mesh implant surgery. Most commonly, women have vaginal mesh prescribed to treat either pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

These conditions are typically caused by traumatic incidents like childbirth, which eventually causes weakness of muscles in the lower abdomen. Vaginal mesh is supposed to improve the quality of life for the patient, but reports of vaginal mesh complications have indicated otherwise including:

• Painful Intercourse
• Urinary Control Problems
• Pelvic Organ Prolapse
• Vaginal Scarring
• Device Failure
• Perforated Bladder or Bowel
• Mesh Erosion
• Infection
• Organ Injuries

Many of these women had to undergo revision surgery due to these vaginal mesh complications, which is riskier than the initial mesh implant surgery.

Vaginal mesh systems were marketed by the device manufacturing companies as safe and effective ways to treat POP and SUI.

Vaginal mesh is a hammock-like piece of mesh that is implanted through their vagina to act as a support system as pelvic organs. Instead, many women experienced serious vaginal mesh complications that required medical intervention to treat.

Women who have experienced vaginal mesh complications, may be able to file legal action against the mesh manufacturing companies. Potential claimants should contact a medical device lawyer to determine eligibility for a vaginal mesh lawsuit.