Johnson & Johnson continues to face growing numbers of pelvic mesh lawsuits, as attorney generals of Washington and California continue to file for patients reporting pelvic mesh complications.

These attorney generals accuse the company of failing to warn patients and doctors against pelvic mesh side effects, as well as the risks they impose upon patients.

The pelvic mesh side effects reported include urinary dysfunction, loss of sex life, constipation, and severe pain.

Overall these pelvic mesh lawsuits address the lower quality of life these patients now suffer, after believing the exaggerated advertisements from Johnson & Johnson.

However these allegations cross to other pelvic mesh manufacturers, like Boston Scientific and Endo International, which manufacture their own pelvic mesh models.

Each of these companies has faced numerous pelvic mesh lawsuits, and have already paid millions to settle the allegations.

Overview of Pelvic Mesh Complications

Pelvic mesh is used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI), after the pelvic muscles become weak and unable to support the pelvic organs. This muscle can become damaged after traumatic incidents to the region, such as childbirth or hysterectomy.

At the time pelvic mesh was innovated, many women found relief in finding a discrete method in treating such person health conditions. The popularity of pelvic mesh spurred different manufacturing companies, like Johnson & Johnson, into making their own models.

However it was not long until customers started reporting pelvic mesh complications, earning concern from the patient population and medical community. After the number of pelvic mesh injury reports reached a certain point, the FDA ordered a relabeling of pelvic mesh products earlier this year.

The agency ordered the products to be labeled as high risk instead of moderate risk, and announced the products would be up for federal scrutiny. The FDA also pointed out that women who had pelvic mesh implanted were more likely to suffer injury than traditional surgery.

Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits Target J&J

California and Washington have led 46 other states and the District of Columbia in the number of pelvic mesh complications and lawsuits, and investigating Johnson & Johnson.

According to a recent news release, Johnson & Johnson had sold nearly 790,000 pelvic mesh products across the country from 2008 to 2014 with over 42,000 in California.

California’s pelvic mesh lawsuit alleges the company had practiced deceptive marketing to sell the dangerous products. Washington’s pelvic mesh lawsuit alleges thousands of consumer protection violations, and are seeking penalties that could reach into the millions.

Washington’s attorney general pointed out that despite selling thousands of pelvic mesh products to patients, the company never mentioned possible pelvic mesh side effects like erosion.

The Washington attorney general also pointed out a 2009 email sent to Johnson & Johnson from a doctor, regarding a woman undergoing a pelvic mesh implant procedure.

The email, mentioned in a CBS news story, stated that “she will likely lose any coital function as her vaginal length is now 3cm, and there is mesh extruding literally everywhere.”

The email concluded the patient would have “a permanently destroyed vagina” if the pelvic mesh product was implanted.

Johnson & Johnson has so far denied the allegations brought by the pelvic mesh lawsuits, calling the claims “unjustified.”