American Medical Systems (AMS) has accused a variety of people surrounding the medical community of manipulating women into going through unnecessary pelvic mesh surgeries.

American Medical Systems is one of the main defendants in ongoing pelvic mesh lawsuits.

The company accused “a pyramid of businessmen, doctors and lawyers” of convincing women to undergo unnecessary pelvic mesh surgery in order to increase the damage claims they can make in the litigation.

The company is preparing to settle thousands of lawsuits. According to reports, American Medical Systems has set aside as much as $1.9 billion in settlement money to cover around 49,000 lawsuits.

AMS Pelvic Mesh Claims

These lawsuits allege that the company manufactured and sold defective pelvic mesh devices which cased injury in thousands of patients. However, AMS claims that it should not have to pay for any unnecessary medical procedures that women were lured into having.

According to American Medical Systems, it has evidence that at least four women, but possibly more, had been persuaded into going through unnecessary medical surgery to remove pelvic mesh devices.

The company claims that these women underwent these surgeries against the recommendation of their own doctors.

Manipulated into Surgery?

AMS further claims that these four women are not alone. Indeed, hundreds more women may have been placed in similar situations, being convinced to go through pelvic mesh removal surgery by lenders, doctors and attorneys who want to increase the damages paid by defendants, says AMS.

The people who allegedly manipulated women into going through unnecessary surgeries are “orchestrating the exploitation of unsophisticated medical and legal consumers and seeking to perpetrate a fraud,” said AMS.

However, those AMS accuses of manipulation denies they did anything wrong. Instead, they claim that the surgeries were medically necessary, and that AMS is simply trying to divert the blame and attention onto someone besides themselves.

According to AMS, some women have been contacted through telemarketing, and inaccurately told that their pelvic mesh devices had been recalled by the FDA.

The telemarketing call was unsolicited, and claimed that they could provide a lawyer and travel to someone who would perform pelvic mesh removal surgery.

One plaintiff contacted by telemarketers consulted her doctor, who found no complications related to her device, and therefore did not recommend that she go through surgery to remove her pelvic mesh.

Ignoring the recommendation of her doctor, the plaintiff decided to proceed with the surgery, hoping to alleviate the pain and bleeding she was experiencing. The telemarketer helped to arrange an advance of thousands of dollars to pay for surgery and travel.

The plaintiff signed a contract agreeing on paying 39 percent annual interest on the cost of the surgery, which she must pay if the lawsuit settles. The interest has already hiked up the cost considerably, and in August will reach $46,500.

However, the average amount expected to be paid in the AMS settlement per plaintiff is around $39,000, which will not be nearly enough to cover what the plaintiff owes.