Johnson & Johnson is facing a new hernia surgery lawsuit from a Florida man, alleging their Physiomesh hernia repair mesh worsened his medical condition. According to the hernia surgery lawsuit, the company either knew or should have known the allegedly defective nature of its product but did not disclose this information.

Plaintiff Dustin R. filed the hernia surgery lawsuit soon after discovering the number of problems reported in association with Physiomesh. His own Physiomesh complications required him to undergo revision surgery, he claims.

Dustin had the Physiomesh hernia mesh product implanted for typical treatment purposes on June 22, 2005, with the product meant to treat a hernia in the abdominal wall.

Not long after the Physiomesh product was implanted, Dustin reportedly started suffering from post surgical complications. According to the hernia surgery lawsuit, the surgical area had to be drained on several occasions. Eventually, Dustin had to undergo revision surgery on Nov. 6, 2017, in which the defective mesh and infected tissue was removed.

Overview of Hernia Mesh Surgery Lawsuit

Dustin opted to file the hernia surgery lawsuit after discovering Johnson & Johnson had to withdraw the Physiomesh product from the market, due to injury reports indicating similar problems. Johnson & Johnson recalled the Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite mesh in May 2016, due to a large number of reports of failure.

At the time, Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Ethicon Inc. reportedly failed to specify the reasons for the high failure rate. But they did state it could be due to several possibilities including: hernia mesh design, physician’s instructions, and patient selection.

The symptoms associated with hernia mesh failure may include:

• Pain
• Swelling
• Adhesions
• Obstructions
• Mesh Migration
• Bacterial Infections
• Hernia Recurrence

Patients who experience these problems are often faced with the possibility of revision surgery to resolve them, so the defective mesh can be explanted and replaced.

Surgical mesh has been used for hernia treatments for decades, providing safe and effective support for the muscles damaged from hernia. The Physiomesh hernia mesh is described as a “sterile, low profile, flexible composite mesh designed for repair of hernias and other fascial deficiencies” by Johnson & Johnson. It’s made with a macroporous polypropylene that is held together by two undyed polygelcaprone-25 films.

This is supposed to make the hernia mesh product safe for human use, and is supposed to carry minimal risk of adverse biological reactions. Soon after the Physiomesh product was released in 2010, it became a widely popular choice in the patient population and became a primary choice for laproscopic ventral hernia repair.

It is important to note that the Physiomesh product was approved through the FDA’s 510(k) fast track approval program, which allows for medical products to be quickly released to market. As long as the product is substantially equivalent to a similar device already on the market, the medical product may be eligible for the agency’s program.

Dustin alleges Johnson & Johnson failed to disclose the potential complications associated with the Physiomesh product, nor were those complications mentioned on the product’s label. Dustin states he never would have opted for the Physiomesh product if he had been aware of these problems.

This Hernia Mesh Surgery Lawsuit is Case No. 8:17-cv-03019-MSS-MAP, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.