West Virginia plaintiffs Nancy and David T. are suing Ethicon Inc. for the adverse effects the injured plaintiff, Nancy T., suffered after using several of the company’s vaginal mesh products. Nancy claims that in direct result of using these mesh devices, she suffered debilitating injuries and serious complications.

Like thousands of other American couples, Nancy and David are filing legal action against Ethicon Inc. and its parent company Johnson & Johnson for the serious side effects Nancy allegedly suffered after using their vaginal mesh products. However, unlike many other plaintiffs, Nancy allegedly suffered injuries from multiple mesh products that had to be removed and replaced for vaginal mesh device defects and side effects.

For the span of three years, Nancy had three vaginal mesh products implanted in an attempt to treat her SUI (stress urinary incontinence) and/or POP (pelvic organ prolapse) conditions, according to the vaginal mesh lawsuit. For her first vaginal mesh product, she tried the defendant’s Prolene mesh in August 2003. After the mesh eroded and failed, she had the Monarc mesh implanted as a replacement on or around June 2004. Her last attempt at using an Ethicon vaginal mesh product was when she was implanted with the defendant’s Gynemesh PS in October 2006.

Each of these mesh products has allegedly brought the injured plaintiff years of intense physical pain and emotional trauma, where it is difficult to complete daily activities. Additionally, her vaginal mesh lawsuit indicates that her marriage was permanently compromised, because the mesh products’ complications made intimate activities too painful. As a result, her husband asserts the charge of loss of consortium in this Ethicon lawsuit. Other injuries the plaintiff allegedly suffered stemmed from mesh erosion and infection, which lead to a variety of other problems for the plaintiff.

In each of the cases of her vaginal mesh insertions, Nancy had allegedly been unaware of the tendency these mesh products had to erosion, infection, and mesh tearing. At no point in time did Ethicon or its associates notify the plaintiff or her husband of these possibilities, or provide designated surgical instructions for her physicians. Nancy insists that she never would have used any of these vaginal mesh devices had she known about their possible side effects. Her vaginal mesh lawsuit will be joining a group of consolidated lawsuits, alleging similar claims.

For being allegedly responsible for manufacturing, selling, distributing, and marketing dangerous products, Nancy and her husband are suing Ethicon Inc. The charges in this Ethicon vaginal mesh lawsuit include: negligence, false advertising, concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

This Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit was filed under the larger Vaginal Mesh MDL In Re: Ethicon Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2327, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Overview of Vaginal Mesh Complications

When vaginal mesh first came onto the medical device market, women were thrilled to have a discreet treatment option for such personal conditions like POP and SUI. POP and SUI are conditions where the internal organ lining in the pelvic region fails after a physically traumatic event, like childbirth. Vaginal mesh products work by acting as replacement bases for this damaged area. Body tissue would ideally grow around the mesh like a stem and would eventually have the patient’s pelvic region return to normal.

While vaginal mesh sounds like an ideal fix for these conditions, many women have found themselves suffering from serious vaginal mesh side effects after using these products. This has led to a mass litigation movement against Ethicon and other vaginal mesh manufacturers, claiming these companies allegedly knew about these mesh product side effects for years, but failed to warn their customers.

In July 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that it had received approximately 4,000 vaginal mesh injury reports involving women who had been implanted with a vaginal mesh product between 2005 and 2010. According to medical experts, the most devastating injuries associated with vaginal mesh are mesh erosion and organ perforation. Mesh erosion can lead to infection, which can result in potentially more debilitating side effects if not treated properly. Organ perforation is when the mesh fails, and organs actually fall out of place in the pelvic region, requiring immediate hospitalization.

In 2014, it had been estimated 50,000 women had taken legal action against vaginal mesh manufacturers, claiming that the companies failed to protect them against the alleged design defects of their products.