An ongoing lawsuit over defective vaginal mesh devices made by CR Bard Inc. has uncovered information that the company may have known about problems with the plastic used in the devices. A lawyer suing the company says that officials with the medical device maker knew that the vaginal mesh was made of a plastic that had been found unsuitable for human implantation and hid that knowledge from the public and doctors.
The case involves a woman, Donna Cisson, who is suing in federal court in West Virginia over injuries she sustained after having an Avaulta vaginal mesh device implanted. The device was designed to hold up pelvic muscles but when it began to erode it led to a host of issues for Cisson. Cisson, a nurse from northern Georgia, got the Avaulta Plus implant in 2009 to help support organs in her pelvic region. However, she began suffering pelvic and rectal pain, bleeding and bladder issues and had to undergo several surgeries to remove the vaginal mesh.
Cisson’s attorney claims that CR Bard used plastic in its devices that contained a warning label which clearly stated the plastic was not safe to permanently implant in humans. Cisson’s attorney argues that had Cisson or her doctor known about the flawed plastic, the Avaulta device would never have been chosen over others.
The suit is the first of more than 3,600 claims against CR Bard over the faulty devices. In many cases patients complain that as the plastic components in the vaginal mesh erode, women can suffer from organ damage and pain during sexual intercourse. The clear warning by the plastic manufacturer should have been sufficient for Bard to not use the product but instead the company chose to ignore the warning and make the implants anyway.
The thousands of claims filed against CR Bard over its Avaulta Plus line of vaginal mesh are similar to thousands more against other implant makers such as Johnson & Johnson, Endo Health and Boston Scientific. Many of the medical device makers are facing suits over their products, with patients claiming they degrade quickly and shrink over time which causes a variety of internal problems.
If you or someone you know have been injured by a defective product and you would like to discuss your case with an attorney, please contact the Georgia product liability litigation attorneys at Pope, McGlamry, Kilpatrick, Morrison & Norwood, P.C. today to schedule a free consultation.
Source: “Bard Executives Hid Vaginal-Mesh Device’s Flaw, Lawyer Says,” by Jef Feeley, published at Businessweek.com.
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