Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence are not uncommon for women to experience, and these conditions are often treated with transvaginal mesh. However, numerous women across the country have filed lawsuits against the manufacturers of these devices after suffering serious, sometimes life-threatening complications that led to the need for surgical removal of the mesh.
Now a group of women from Texas have sent a petition to the Texas State Attorney General asking for an investigation in Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Ethicon, which makes transvaginal mesh (TVM) following countless injuries due to this company’s product.
One woman who signed the petition was awarded $1.2 million in damages after a jury in Texas ruled that the Ethicon vaginal mesh she was implanted for stress urinary incontinence with was defective.
“It actually does feel like a scouring pad in your body,” she told local Houston news station KHOU. “You can feel in your women parts, what it is. It’s there.”
The women want to the state to recoup the money it’s spent on behalf of mesh victims.
“It is critical that the Texas Attorney General’s Office pursue this matter to recoup the state taxpayer dollars Medicaid and other public health systems have been and will be forced to spend to treat women who have been injured,” the petition letter said. “Only the Texas Attorney General, not consumers, can bring suit under the statute’s broad prohibition of deceptive acts.”
Jane Akre also experienced issues with transvaginal mesh, and she details the problems on her blog meshnewsdesk.com.
“We’d like them to look into the enormous costs the state,” Akre told KHOU. “And therefore the taxpayers are picking up as a result of these injuries. The state, the taxpayers are basically picking up the costs that the companies should be picking up. And we don’t know how much money that is, but it’s easily in the billions of dollars if you look at all of the states.”
According to court documents, about 19,000 TVM lawsuits are currently pending against Ethicon in a federal multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Women who’ve experienced serious mesh complications that required surgical removal of the device might be considering their own transvaginal mesh lawsuit. If you are, it’s best to contact an experienced lawyer who understands the details and background of mass tort cases.
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.