A pelvic mesh lawsuit has joined the larger mass litigation over Ethicon pelvic mesh.

Pelvic mesh is a type of surgical implant. Derived from surgical mesh used since the 1970s, pelvic mesh is used to support and repair pelvic organs like the vagina, uterus, and bladder when these organs’ regular support structures are weakened or damaged.

However, numerous reports of pelvic mesh complications have surfaced and tens of thousands of pelvic mesh lawsuits have been filed.

Because many of the existing pelvic mesh lawsuits in the MDL have already made their allegations, this particular filing is scant on details, but it is stated that plaintiff Cathryn O. of Florida had pelvic mesh implanted in May 2012 at Bayfront Heath Port Hospital in Charlotte, N.C. Subsequently, she suffered serious complications and is now seeking compensation for costs incurred due to alleged pelvic mesh complications.

Allegedly, pelvic mesh is subject to a host of complications. Widespread reports of serious problems, including many that had to be corrected surgically, have led to recalls and pelvic mesh lawsuits across virtually every brand and model of pelvic mesh.

Pelvic mesh complications can include mesh erosion. In pelvic mesh erosion, pelvic mesh cuts into and eventually works its way through the very tissue it was implanted to protect through mechanical friction.

Along similar lines, pelvic mesh has been reported to encourage embedment, when the body tries to grow tissue around the mesh, causing pain and complicating removal of the mesh. These and other reported pelvic mesh complications have led to widespread pelvic mesh lawsuits.

In fact, so many pelvic mesh lawsuits have been filed that the legal system has resorted to a process called multidistrict litigation, or MDL, to organize them. In an MDL, similar cases are grouped together and coordinated, and in some ways, a pelvic mesh MDL acts like a giant pelvic mesh class action lawsuit, though pelvic mesh lawsuits within the pelvic mesh MDL retain more autonomy than individual plaintiffs within a pelvic mesh class action lawsuit would have.

Since pelvic mesh lawsuits typically make similar allegations and hinge on similar evidence, they are ideal for inclusion in a pelvic mesh MDL. However, as a number of different medical companies, including Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon subsidiary, made pelvic mesh, there are currently about a half-dozen pelvic mesh MDLs.

Once the ball is rolling on an MDL, it is relatively easy to join in for plaintiffs with similar allegations.

The Pelvic Mesh Lawsuit is Case No. 2111, filed within the larger pelvic mesh MDL, In Re: Ethicon Incorporated, Pelvic Repair Systems Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2327, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.