Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon Inc. face a woman’s recent vaginal mesh implant lawsuit due to adverse side effects and complications she suffered after the device’s implantation.

Plaintiff Stephanie G. is filing the vaginal mesh implant lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court demanding a trial by jury.

According to the vaginal mesh implant lawsuit, Stephanie was first implanted with the vaginal mesh during a hysterectomy surgery at UMPC Magee Women’s Hospital in the mid-1990s.

However, following the procedure, to which she says she was even left unaware that she had been implanted with a vaginal mesh in the first place, she says that she suffered severe and permanent bodily injuries, and significant mental and physical pain.

Due to left flank pain, she was also admitted to Alleghany General Hospital on Jan. 22, 2013. Prior to that time, she was diagnosed with a renal mass during which she later underwent a cystoscopy, right ureteroscopy and a retrograde pyelogram.

However, on Feb. 12, 2016 during a laparoscopic right ureterolysis, the surgeon performing the surgery was dissecting the small bowel off the anterior abdominal wall when he saw that the bowel was stuck to the anterior abdominal wall.

Following several attempts to remove it, he found that it was stuck to the mesh from a prior hysterectomy. The vaginal mesh was severely distorted and was found to cause the abdominal pain that Stephanie was suffering from for years.

According to the vaginal mesh implant lawsuit, it wasn’t until the surgery of Feb. 12, 2016 that she even learned that she had a mesh. “The mesh manufactured by Defendants had numerous defects which created a high risk of unreasonable and dangerous injuries and side effects with severe permanent adverse health consequences,” the vaginal mesh implant lawsuit states.

The vaginal mesh implant lawsuit was filed on multiple counts including manufacturing defect, defective design, negligent manufacturing and failure to warn.

Overview: Vaginal Mesh Implant

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against vaginal mesh manufacturers, including Ethicon Inc. and Johnson and Johnson, over severe adverse side effects and complications that patients have suffered from their transvaginal mesh implantation.

According to the Mayo Clinic, pelvic floor disorders are commonly treated with transvaginal mesh. The device is used to provide extra support to fix damaged and weakened tissue. Some disorders that transvaginal mesh can help treat includes pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

However, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there have been numerous reports of complications during or after surgery for POP. As a result, the FDA classified POP repair surgery using transvaginal mesh from a moderate-risk device to a high-risk device.

Some complications that have been associated with transvaginal mesh include organ perforation, urinary problems, pain, mesh erosion, bleeding, and pain during sex. Patients who seek treatment for a pelvic floor disorder using a transvaginal mesh are advised to ask questions and have their primary care physician explain all the options that they may have.

The Vaginal Mesh Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-00935-RCM, in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.