Transvaginal mesh causes pain and internal damage to women no matter where they are in the world. According to U.K. news source The Independent, hundreds of women in Scotland have filed lawsuits against vaginal mesh makers, claiming the devices caused “distressing effects.” More women in the country continue to come forward saying their transvaginal mesh devices are defective.
Women File Damages Claims In Scotland
The BBC reported transvaginal mesh is common in the U.K., with 1,500 Scottish women receiving the implants every year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated numerous transvaginal mesh makers to study the harmful effects of their devices, according to The New York Times, and officials in the U.K. have taken similar action. According to The Independent, the Labour Party has asked the U.K.’s health care system, National Health Service, in Scotland to stop implanting transvaginal mesh in women due to so many women coming forward saying the devices harmed them. The news source reported approximately 400 women have filed damages claims in Scotland, causing many to question whether the U.K. should have stricter regulations on transvaginal mesh.
One woman involved in the claims, Shona Trainer, said she had to have four surgeries to remove the implant, but these measures weren’t able to relieve her pain.
“It’s constant,” Trainer said. “Constant from the waist down. You go in thinking that they’re competent enough to fix you and right now I’m worse than I was in the beginning.”
Another woman, who the BBC only calls Linda, said she is in constant pain as well, and she and her husband aren’t able to be intimate because of her transvaginal mesh complications.
“I’m just in the house all the time,” Linda told the BBC. “You can be sitting and you can feel the jagging pain. I can’t even carry my washing. My husband has to carry it and if I put my hands up to put the washing on the line, I can feel it jagging. Sex is a no go. We’ve not got a sex life. It’s actually taken a bit of toll on my marriage.”
Linda even said physicians can’t help relieve her suffering.
What You Can Do
Transvaginal mesh lawsuits have been gaining ground in the U.S., and as more women come forward across the globe. As a result, the FDA banned all TVM devices from the U.S. market.
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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.