Thousands of federal transvaginal mesh litigations are now underway in U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. Oral arguments are set to take place on Dec. 10 in the federal transvaginal mesh litigations against device makers Boston Scientific Corp. and Ethicon, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson. In a press release, Bernstein Liebhard LLP, the law firm representing hundreds of women pursuing the class action lawsuits, noted the Southern District of West Virginia currently has more than 30,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits pending against transvaginal mesh manufacturers in the U.S. district court. The thousands of claims have been consolidated into several federal transvaginal mesh litigations.
Defective Design, Negligent Manufacturing Cited in Federal Transvaginal Mesh Litigations
The majority of claims allege vaginal mesh products were defectively designed and led to serious complications. According to the release, many of the women said they used the devices to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and urinary incontinence. However, the women suffered from chronic pain and mesh erosion, which can cause infections and nerve damage. Many times, mesh erosion can cause women to need a catheter and in some cases be hospitalized. The claims also accuse the makers of not giving physicians and their patients enough information about the devices, such as any complications that may arise, and failing to provide adequate warnings. The claimants are pursuing compensation for their medical bills as well as suffering.
Ongoing Federal Transvaginal Mesh Litigations Against Two Manufacturers Heat Up
Ethicon has already decided to stop selling its vaginal mesh products involved in multiple litigations, and has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration give the company additional time to withdraw the product from the market correctly. The other mesh maker involved in the litigations, Boston Scientific Corp., is currently involved in additional federal transvaginal mesh litigations, some of which won’t take place until as late as March 10, 2014.
“Our firm is representing hundreds of women in these proceedings who suffered life-changing transvaginal mesh complications, allegedly due to devices manufactured by Boston Scientific, Ethicon and other companies.,” Bernstein Liebhard LLP said in the press release. “We are pleased to see continuing progress in these litigations.”
The law firm noted it is satisfied that the lawsuits are now proceeding to trial. Not all transvaginal mesh lawsuits end up making it to trial. For example, a similar bellwether suit was dropped just weeks away from trial. Although the case did have a favorable outcome, not going to trial was unexpected.
Lori Polemenakos is Director of Consumer Content and SEO strategist for LeadingResponse, a legal marketing company. An award-winning journalist, writer and editor based in Dallas, Texas, she's produced articles for major brands such as Match.com, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Xfinity, Mail.com, and edited several published books. Since 2016, she's published hundreds of articles about Social Security disability, workers' compensation, veterans' benefits, personal injury, mass tort, auto accident claims, bankruptcy, employment law and other related legal issues.