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Ethicon Media Monitoring 3/13/2017
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Mesh campaigners set for showdown talks with health secretary Shona Robison
Mar 12, 2017 | The Sunday Post
By Marion Scott
MESH campaigners will have showdown talks with Scottish health secretary Shona Robison this week, after resigning from a safety review into the controversial surgery. -
Mesh scandal: Scots campaigners vow to fight on as US firm close implant business after £1bn legal costs
Mar 12, 2017 | The Daily Record
By Marion Scott
ENDO, who make three mesh devices used in Scottish hospitals, will cease production and stop selling the products by the end of the month.
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Mesh campaigners set for showdown talks with health secretary Shona Robison
Mar 12, 2017 | The Sunday Post
By Marion Scott
MESH campaigners will have showdown talks with Scottish health secretary Shona Robison this week, after resigning from a safety review into the controversial surgery.
Olive McIlroy, 60, and Elaine Holmes, 52, are “disgusted” at Ms Robinson’s defence of a “whitewash” report into a practice they say has ignored vital evidence.
The health secretary came under fire in the Scottish Parliament over the issue after The Sunday Post revealed the resignations last weekend.
Ms Robison’s response was that the issue was “complex”. She defended the report, which “favours” mesh, and said a helpline for sufferers had been set up.
But Elaine, from Newton Mearns, and Olive, from Renfrew, believe Ms Robison is adding insult to injury.
The lives of more than 400 women have been affected and NHS Scotland is facing the country’s biggest negligence legal claim. Elaine said: “We need more than a helpline manned for four hours a week by a single nurse.”
Olive and Elaine refused to sign off on the report, to be published next month after a three-year investigation.
The women, who suffered life-changing injuries for the treatment for bladder problems, are to meet Ms Robison on Thursday to express how “sickened” they are.
They have allies in Conservative and Labour MSPs Jackson Carlaw and Neil Findlay, chair of the health committee.
They claim “astonished” experts who gave evidence have expressed concerns over the report, the contents of which contradict the findings of an interim report.
Mr Carlaw said: “I have been contacted by others in the review who are astonished at the wholesale removal of certain chapters.”
“Only weeks ago, the First Minister gave me an assurance there would be no whitewash.
“The Government has to confront the realities of the mesh scandal, rather than sanctioning a report with missing key evidence because of the vested interests of some clinicians.
“And because some health boards would rather continue with a dangerous procedure rather than a more expensive but safer one.”
Neil Findlay has asked Ms Robison to answer concerns that the review has been compromised.
He said: “Why would an independent review fail to consider all the up-to-date information, irrespective of whether it is pro or anti-mesh?”
The campaigners claim EU reclassification of all surgical mesh, including hernia mesh, to “high risk” has been ignored, along with the reclassification in the US of the metal hooks used to anchor the implants.
Campaigners are also concerned the report ignores three criminal investigations by the US Government and warnings over the alleged use of Chinese counterfeit mesh.
Elaine and Olive now fear more women will suffer injuries.
Olive said: “We believe the suspension on implants, ordered three years ago by then health secretary Alex Neil, will be lifted and more women will end up in wheelchairs.”
Lawyer George Clark of Quantum Claims warned the NHS would have no defence if it ignored evidence and safety warnings and more patients were injured.
Ms Robison said: “What is important is that we make sure that whatever guidance is given, it is based on the most robust evidence.”
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/mesh-campaigners-set-for-showdown-talks-with-health-secretary-shona-robison/
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Mar 12, 2017 | The Daily Record
By Marion Scott
ENDO, who make three mesh devices used in Scottish hospitals, will cease production and stop selling the products by the end of the month.
ONE of the world’s biggest mesh manufacturers are closing down their implant business after legal costs soared to more than £1billion.
Endo, who make three mesh devices used in Scottish hospitals, will cease production and stop selling the products by the end of the month.
Spiralling legal fees and the huge payouts awarded by juries to injured women in the US have severely dented the firm.
Experts predict Endo won’t be the only mesh producer to stop production as manufacturers face being sued by women from around the world .
Almost 140,000 cases are under way in the States alone. Endo have shared the position as the biggest supplier of mesh devices with Johnson & Johnson-owned firm Ethicon.
Bosses insist the implants, used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence, are safe – despite announcing they will no longer be available through their Astora division.
Endo’s Heather Zoumas-Lubeski said: “After a comprehensive review of the strategic business options, and particularly given the continuing legal disruptions associated with the vaginal mesh business, we have now determined the best strategy is to wind down this business.
“This decision does not change our consistent position, supported by robust clinical data and FDA clearances, that Astora’s products are safe and effective and have restored the quality of life for countless women suffering from the debilitating conditions of incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.”
The Scottish Government ordered an independent review into the use of mesh implants last year after a long-running Sunday Mail campaign.
The use of the three devices made by Endo was suspended pending the outcome of the
investigation. Holyrood made the move following a wave of complaints from women who claimed they had been left with life-changing injuries following the controversial treatment.Elaine Holmes, of campaign group Scottish Mesh Survivors, said: “We’re delighted Endo are stopping production and yearn for the day all mesh firms follow suit”.
American Medical Systems were bought by Endo in 2011 for £2billion. In June 2013, AMS agreed payouts of £40million and a further £700million in 2014, with 16,000 cases pending.
In the past two years, Johnson & Johnson have spent more than £1billion on litigation costs and are facing upwards of 42,000 mesh claims.
They were ordered to pay Teresa Taylor £3million by a Georgia court last month.
Their Ethicon division were also ordered last month to pay Sharon Carlino, 52, from New Jersey, £11million after she claimed the most-used mesh device in Scotland, the TVT, caused injury.
Walmart shelf stacker Patricia Hammons, 65, was awarded £10million including substantial punitive damages in December by a Philadelphia court .
US attorney Adam Slater, who has won millions for victims and gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s mesh review, said: “Endo’s decision to stop marketing pelvic mesh was inevitable. In my opinion, all manufacturers will eventually stop selling these insidious devices proven incompatible with permanent implantation in the female pelvis.”
More than 400 mesh victims will be heard at the Court of Session in Scotland’s biggest medical claim.
Lawyer Cameron Fyfe said: “We’d hope the wealth of evidence emerging across the world adequately shows many mesh implants have not only been found defective, juries believe they are responsible for causing extensive injuries and have reflected that in the high level of settlements.
“Although that high level of settlements couldn’t be achieved in the UK, we’d hope that, rather than drag ill and injured women through harrowing court procedures, mesh companies will consider
settling claims here too.http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/mesh-scandal-scots-campaigners-vow-7548866
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