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Providence Journal reports that lawyers are optimistic after a California woman received a $5 million verdict from the jury due to the injury that she had suffered from the transvaginal mesh implant. The verdict was surprising because of the large verdict and because the attorney that was handling the case was not involved in the Multi-District Litigation (MDL) but only that single case, and it’s the only mesh case he’s done, showing potential plaintiffs that this could be an easy case to win. There are currently 1,100 cases in MDL in West Virginia alone, against four manufacturers of the products: C.R. Bard, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon, and American Medical Systems. There are a total number of 3,400 cases.

An attorney in Florida stated, “If the right attorney gets the right case, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to get a $20 million verdict.” Personal injury attorneys describe the procedure as “brutal,” some mesh products are like “meat hooks that are introduced into the entire pelvic tunnel.”  A month before this trial, Johnson & Johnson withdrew its vaginal mesh product from the market. The drug company claims that it was a business decision not because of safety issues. But if they did not take it off the shelves because of safety, then subsequent remedial measures are not being taken to make the products safer.

courtroomTrans-vaginal mesh products are intended to provide comfort and relief from pain to women who suffer Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) or Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI). POP occurs when a pelvic organ, such as your bladder, drops, or prolapses, from its normal position and pushes against the walls of your vagina. This can happen if the muscles that hold your pelvic organs in place become weak or was stretched. Pelvic organ prolapse can cause pain or problems with bowel and bladder functions or interfere with sexual activity. SUI is the unintentional action of losing urine during physical activities, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, or during exercises. Both of these may be caused by childbirth or surgery in the prostate or pelvic area. Women are at higher risk than men for both the POP and SUI. Trans-vaginal Mesh has helped treating POPs and SUIs through surgery. While trans-vaginal surgical mesh products are designed to help manage these conditions and to alleviate the pain and discomfort suffered by women who live with these health problems every day, treating these problems have led to even more side-effects or injuries for women.

The most frequently-reported vaginal mesh complications include erosion through vaginal epithelium, infection, pain, urinary problems, and re-occurrence of prolapse and/or incontinence. Other injuries and side effects associated with the implantation of vaginal mesh products include chronic vaginal drainage, erosion of the vaginal tissue, feeling as though something is protruding from the vagina, lower back pain, pain during intercourse, perforations of the bowel, bladder or blood vessels, pressure or feeling of “fullness” in the lower abdomen, reoccurrence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urinary problems, vaginal bleeding, vaginal infections, vaginal pain not related to intercourse, and vaginal scarring.

Attorney Paul d’Oliveira stated, “I am very glad to see this poor woman get the justice she deserves, as we have seen so many women’s lives ruined by this defective product. I have spoken to too many women whose lives will never be the same because of these mesh patches, which were not properly tested before being put on the market because these companies care about profits more than people. If these companies take enough time to test the product then they lose their market share so they just do these inadequate and incomplete tests and then release it to the marketplace. It’s too tempting for these CEO’s of these big corporations to take the necessary time to test the product because to them…time is money so they gamble and hope the product turns out to be safe. And in most instances it is safe but what about when it isn’t? What happens to those poor women who are severely harmed by these defective mesh patches? Do these CEO’s really care? I would say in the vast majority of instances they don’t care about anything except their bonuses from the great profits from these products and medical devices. People need to be sure to tell their surgeons not to give them any drug or medical device that has not been on the market for at least 5 to 10 years to make sure it is safe. But people don’t know the truth about many corporations in America and I hope this verdict helps get the word out that if someone is going to undergo surgery and have a medical device placed in their body, that they have researched the device to make sure it is safe.”

personal injury lawyerThe attorneys at d’Oliveira & Associates urge anyone who has suffered injuries through the trans-vaginal mesh implant procedure to contact them.  They are working with some of the leading defective product attorneys in the nation who are handling these cases.  They want all patients of trans-vaginal mesh implants and other hip replacement products to understand that they are entitled to compensation.

For a free legal consultation, call 1-800-992-6878 or fill out our contact form.

Author Photo

Paul d’Oliveira

Attorney Paul d’Oliveira has been practicing personal injury and disability law for over 30 years. He started his personal injury law practice in 1989 with two offices in Fall River, MA and East Providence, RI. Today his firm has 16 offices in RI and Southeastern, MA.

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