A federal judge pressed vaginal mesh manufacturers to quickly come up with transvaginal mesh lawsuit settlements.

With thousands of transvaginal mesh lawsuits filed against several large manufacturers, it was suggested that if a settlement was not reached the courts would be flooded with transvaginal mesh lawsuits and that it would take years to complete.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin has presided over the thousands of vaginal mesh lawsuits concerning transvaginal mesh complications since the transvaginal mesh lawsuits were consolidated into a MDL.

Plaintiffs in these vaginal mesh lawsuits have claimed that transvaginal mesh products, vaginal slings, and bladder slings have cause severe pain and suffering. Many allegedly experienced pelvic organ prolapse, the very condition the transvaginal mesh products were created to fix.

Manufacturers involved in the transvaginal mesh lawsuits include Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon, Boston Scientific, American Medical Systems, C.R. Bard, Coloplast Corp., Cook Medical, and Neomedic.

Thousands of women who have experienced transvaginal mesh problems have filed vaginal mesh lawsuits against these corporations. More and more transvaginal mesh lawsuits have become “trial ready” as the settlement agreement process slowly continues.

Transvaginal Mesh Lawsuit Settlements

As of mid-January, Judge Goodwin counted 22,721 Ethicon transvaginal mesh lawsuits, 19,081 American Medical System transvaginal mesh lawsuits, 14,674 against Boston Scientific, 10,080 against Bard, 1, 795 against Coloplast, 258 against Cook Medical, and 71 Neomedic transvaginal mesh lawsuits. This is nearly 70,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits alleging transvaginal mesh complications in one MDL.

However, only about 2,000 federal jury trials happen in the U.S. District Court system every year, and transvaginal mesh lawsuits are not the only trials that go before court. Judge Goodwin stated his concern for the legal system, suggesting that a transvaginal mesh lawsuit settlement needed to be finalized quickly in order to avoid overwhelming the legal system and causing some plaintiffs to wait decades before their case is heard in court.

Both American Medical System and Coloplast have already issued transvaginal mesh lawsuit settlements. Endo, another vaginal mesh manufacturer, claimed it has also reached some settlement agreements.

Judge Goodwin suggested that if the other vaginal mesh manufacturers did not follow suit that the court would rapidly begin transvaginal mesh lawsuit trials. These trials could cost manufacturers billions considering that several women who experienced vaginal mesh complications and were chosen for bellwether trials have already won several million dollars as compensation.

Transvaginal Mesh Problems

Transvaginal mesh implants and vaginal/bladder slings have been used to treat pelvic organ prolapse in thousand of women across the country. However, many experienced severe pain and suffering due to medical complications caused by vaginal mesh products.

Signs of transvaginal mesh complications include:

• Pain during sex
• Urinary problems
• Multiple occurrences of pelvic organ prolapse
• Vaginal scarring
• Perforated bladder, perforated bowel or perforated blood vessels
• Mesh erosion into the vagina
• Infection
• Organ injuries