A Pennsylvania woman has filed a transvaginal mesh lawsuit against the surgeon who treated her and the company that manufactured the medical device.

Plaintiff Cynthia P. is suing her physician, the University of Pittsburgh Physicians, the Women’s Center for Bladder and Pelvic Health, as well as Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Cynthia says she began experiencing pain in her vaginal and lower pelvic region in April 2013. She is an athlete and a marathon runner with a high tolerance for pain, she claims in her transvaginal mesh lawsuit. Like other pain she had experienced from running in the past, Cynthia thought her pain would go away eventually.

However, in the spring and summer of 2013, she noticed a protrusion of an organ in her vagina. Her pain increased and she ceased marathon training.

Cynthia sought medical help. After an ultrasound, it was determined she had a prolapsed uterus.

With her physicians, she discussed options for treatment such as a vaginal hysterectomy and an abdominal hysterectomy. By the time she decided on a course of treatment, an abdominal hysterectomy, the majority of her uterus was protruding into her vagina.

Cynthia’s initial doctor then referred her to a different doctor who was able to see her in the summer of 2014. Cynthia claims her new doctor rated her condition at a 3 or a 4 on a scale of 1 to 4.

Her new doctor suggested that she undergo a pelvic floor repair with the hysterectomy. Cynthia and the doctor decided that with the pelvic floor repair, she would not need a total hysterectomy.

Transvaginal Mesh Lawsuit Claims Plaintiff Was Misinformed

According to Cynthia’s transvaginal mesh lawsuit, the doctor told her that pelvic floor repair would require the implantation of a mesh device that would help with incontinence. The mesh, the doctor explained, would be attached to her cervix after her uterus had been removed.

Cynthia was familiar with pelvic mesh and was also familiar with recent pelvic mesh lawsuits regarding their possible complications. She stated that she did not want the device implanted, but her doctor told her she was getting the best, the “golden standard” of the devices.

Cynthia was told by her doctor that those women who had suffered complications from pelvic mesh were either smokers or overweight. The doctor also stressed to her that if she did not have the procedure, the prolapse could affect her kidneys eventually causing kidney failure.

Because of the risk of kidney failure, Cynthia reluctantly agreed to the procedure.

Her surgery took place in August 2014. Directly after her surgery, she says, she experienced extreme pain. Three weeks after her surgery, she was still bed-bound due to extreme vaginal and abdominal pain.

Her pain was so severe she was unable to stand and visited her doctor’s office several times for her symptoms, she says. Her doctor told her that she was experiencing normal healing and that perhaps she was a “slow healer.”

After many months of excruciating pain and after many visits to her doctor, the doctor finally admitted she was experiencing erosion of her vaginal wall from the mesh. Part of the mesh was protruding from her vagina, causing her extreme pain. She attributes this protrusion to the allegedly improper way her doctor implanted the mesh.

Cynthia has since undergone mesh retrieval performed by a different doctor, but she says she continues to experience severe symptoms from her pelvic mesh implant.

Her current symptoms include depression, weight gain, extreme pain, inability to lift heavy objects, loss of appetite and an inability to engage in sexual intercourse.

In her transvaginal mesh lawsuit, Cynthia brings forth claims of professional negligence/medical malpractice, professional negligence/delayed diagnosis, corporate negligence, manufacturing defect, defective product, and design defect, among many others.

Cynthia’s Transvaginal Mesh Lawsuit is Case No. GD-16-014452 in the Court of Common Pleas for Allegheny County, Penn.