The West Virginia federal judge presiding over all transvaginal mesh litigation recently upheld a previous order limiting the testimony of the plaintiffs’ experts to three in the C.R. Bard (Bard) vaginal mesh multidistrict litigation.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin granted Bard’s motion to strike the disclosure of witnesses and reaffirmed that his initial pre-trial ruling was appropriate and that vaginal mesh plaintiffs’ attorneys will not be prevented from carrying their burden of proof.

Bard Transvaginal Mesh Federal MDL Consolidation

Thousands of vaginal mesh lawsuits have been consolidated alleging severe injuries resulting from Bard’s Avaulta transvaginal mesh. Bard allegedly knew that the composition of its transvaginal mesh product increased the risk of transvaginal mesh complications yet never disclosed those facts to doctors or its patients.

All filed federal product liability lawsuits claiming injuries with transvaginal mesh or bladder slings used for repair of pelvic organ prolapse and female stress urinary incontinence are centralized before Judge Goodwin, in the Southern District of West Virginia.

This centralization is part of seven different pelvic mesh multidistrict litigations (MDLs) that have been established for transvaginal mesh lawsuits filed against various transvaginal mesh and bladder sling manufacturers, including C.R. Bard, Ethicon, Boston Scientific, American Medical Systems (AMS), Coloplast, Neomedic, and Cook Medical.

Transvaginal Mesh Problems

Transvaginal mesh, also known as a bladder sling, is a product designed to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence in women. POP, which is often caused by childbearing or advanced age, occurs when the pelvic floor weakens, causing the bladder to protrude into the vaginal area – causing pain and discomfort.

The pelvic mesh, when working properly, is implanted to hoist the bladder and surrounding muscles into their proper place, thereby allowing women to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle.

However, as thousands of women have discovered, pelvic mesh allegedly has a tendency to erode into the surrounding tissue, causing mesh erosion, perforation, and other problematic issues. As such, a large number of women experienced painful revision surgeries, with some experiencing permanent damage to the pelvic region.

Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits

There are more than 70,000 other similar vaginal mesh lawsuits pending in the vaginal mesh MDL, including more than 14,000 Boston Scientific vaginal mesh lawsuits, 22,000 Ethicon vaginal mesh lawsuits, 1,750 Coloplast vaginal mesh lawsuits, 259 Cook Medical vaginal mesh lawsuits and about 71 Neomedic vaginal mesh lawsuits.

In four transvaginal mesh lawsuits that have gone to trial in the federal court system, juries have ordered the transvaginal mesh manufacturers to pay more than $123 million to women who allegedly suffered injuries from the vaginal mesh products.

Recently, two consolidated lawsuits involving groups of four women each went to trial in Florida and West Virginia against Boston Scientific, resulting in combined jury awards of $26.7 million and $18.5 million respectively.

Last September, a Texas jury ordered Boston Scientific to pay $73 million in a state court trial, and Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon division was ordered to pay a woman $3.27 million in damages in a federal trial.

The Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit MDL is In re: C.R. Bard Inc. Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, 10-md-02187, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.