Texas Lawsuit Joins C.R. Bard Vaginal Mesh MDL

Texas Lawsuit Joins C.R. Bard Vaginal Mesh MDL

By Robert J. Boumis

Patricia Clark of Texas has joined multidistrict litigation against medical supply company C.R. Bard. Her vaginal mesh lawsuit alleges that C.R. Bard’s pelvic mesh implants left Clark with serious, permanent damage.

Multidistrict ligation or MDL is a form of mass tort, a lawsuit that involves a number of allegedly similarly-harmed plaintiffs suing a single defendant. Most people are more familiar with class action lawsuits, a similar type of legal action. The main difference between class action lawsuits and MDLs is that in a class action lawsuit, all of the allegedly-injured parties are represented by a single lawyer or team of lawyers, while in an MDL every single plaintiff retains independent legal counsel. These types of legal actions are designed to save resources. For example, the plaintiffs and their counsel can pool their resources and distribute their costs among themselves, and the defendants only have to defend against a single condensed lawsuit. 

Pelvic mesh — also known as transvaginal mesh or vaginal mesh — is a type of medical implant designed to support pelvic organs when the muscles that usually support them weaken. Weakening of pelvic muscles can happen due to childbirth or aging. Vaginal mesh implants are based on an older technology, surgical mesh, which first hit the market in the 1970s. At the time, surgeons sometimes cut surgical mesh into new shapes for pelvic surgery. Picking up on the need for a new product, surgical supply companies began producing surgical mesh pre-cut for pelvic surgery, marketed as pelvic mesh, vaginal mesh or urogynecologic mesh. Since pelvic mesh was based on an existing medical device, it was able to skip some of the usual testing. 

However, patients with pelvic mesh implants began to suffer from serious complications. The pelvic mesh complications did not appear to be restricted to a single model or even manufacturer. Some patients experienced painful, potentially life-threatening complications. This included situations where the mesh damaged the very tissues it was designed to protect, or encouraged dangerous reactions. This led to recalls of many different types of pelvic mesh, as well as lawsuits like this one that alleges the manufacturers reasonably should have been aware of the risks and continued to market the products anyway.  

Clark’s pelvic mesh lawsuit has joined ongoing MDL, In Re: C.R. Bard Incorporated Pelvic System Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2187, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. 

If you or someone you know suffered from serious health problems after receiving a pelvic mesh implant, you’ve almost certainly been through an ordeal. Patients suffering from pelvic mesh complications often require corrective surgery, sometimes not long after they’ve already had an initial surgery. Surgery entails mounting medical costs and time away from your life, which means lost wages for most people. And for some, the damage from pelvic mesh complications may follow the patient for a lifetime and require continuing medical care and monitoring. But you need to remember that regardless of the situation you have found yourself facing, you still have rights, and there are steps that you can take to regain a measure of control over your situation. You can start by visiting the Transvaginal Mesh, Vaginal Sling, Vaginal Mesh and Bladder Sling Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. Here, you can enter information about your situation for a legal review by a trained expert with a background in this type of litigation. The initial consultation is completely free of charge and from here, you can receive additional guidance on the best steps to take in your exact situation.