A pelvic mesh lawsuit has been filed against Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Ethicon Inc. for allegedly causing a Georgia woman to suffer serious injuries.

Plaintiff Patricia M., like millions of other women in America, suffered from stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). These conditions caused the plaintiff to have little control over her pelvic organs, especially her bladder. Patricia opted to have vaginal mesh implanted to try to correct her condition.

Patricia’s physician recommended the TVT-SECUR (TVT-S). The mesh product was advertised to be safe and effective for the plaintiff’s condition. Patricia had the mesh product implanted on Nov. 13, 2007 and said it responded well initially.

It was not long after the device was implanted that the plaintiff started experiencing the adverse effects associated with vaginal mesh, according to her vaginal mesh lawsuit. According to her lawsuit, Patricia experienced severe pain from mesh erosion and mesh tearing, which could have resulted in infection.

The full extent of her injuries has not been determined, but it is predicted that she will have to undergo mesh removal surgery.

At no point before or after her mesh implant surgery, was Patricia warned of possible mesh complications by the defendants, nor did they point out any relevant studies or FDA warnings, the vaginal mesh complications lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the companies had the responsibility to warn about the possibility of complications. Patricia insists that she never would have used the TVT-S if she had known about the possible injuries she could incur from vaginal mesh.

Patricia accused Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson of negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

This vaginal mesh lawsuit is filed In Re: Ethicon Inc. Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2327, in the U.S. District Court of Southern West Virginia, Charleston Division.

Overview of Vaginal Mesh Complications

When vaginal mesh was first tried, many considered it to be a great medical innovation for women looking for a discrete treatment option for either SUI or POP. Vaginal mesh is essentially a hammock that is implemented in the vaginal area to contain pelvic organ, and help control urinary problems.

Since the approval of vaginal mesh, millions of women have used this product, but  many women have also discovered that many complications are associated with it.

In July 2011, the FDA said it had received 4,000 vaginal mesh complications reports between 2005 and 2010. This announcement concluded with the FDA stating that vaginal mesh injuries are not rare, and that these devices are not guaranteed to improve the patients’ quality of life.

The most serious complications mentioned on mesh injury reports include erosion and organ perforation. Mesh erosion occurs when the vaginal wall becomes scarred and infected from the mesh, which can lead to pain and device failure. Device failure cannot only result in debilitating pain, but can also result in organ perforation, in which the pelvic organs perforate the vaginal areas.

In the case organ perforation, it can lead to urine or excrement leaking into the bloodstream, which can cause septic shock or other potentially fatal consequences. Many women who suffer vaginal mesh side effects, opt to have the mesh removed.

It has been estimated that 70,000 women have filed legal action against mesh manufacturers after suffering serious complications.