Ethicon Media Monitoring 4/12/2017

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Online Sources

1. Mesh implant operations are up to nine times riskier than admitted by surgeons and the NHS

   Apr 16, 2017 | Cambs Times

   By Kath Sansom
   
   
   A women’s operation using mesh implants is up to nine times riskier than warned about in patient safety leaflets in hospitals across England, according to new figures.

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Online Sources

1. Mesh implant operations are up to nine times riskier than admitted by surgeons and the NHS

   Apr 16, 2017 | Cambs Times

   By Kath Sansom

   A women’s operation using mesh implants is up to nine times riskier than warned about in patient safety leaflets in hospitals across England, according to new figures.

   The implants, used to treat incontinence and prolapse, can cause problems for one in 11 women (8.58%), according to hospital episode statistics (HES).

   However, most surgeons and NHS paperwork say risks are low, standing at just one per cent, one in 100 women, rising to three per cent which is one in 30 women.

   The figures show 471 women had their mesh implants either totally or partially removed in 2015 to 2016.

   But for that same year the MHRA says there were 171 adverse incidents reported.

   Sling The Mesh campaigner Ann Boni, who sat on the English Group Working Party into mesh safety, said: “This is not the low risk operation they would have everybody believe.

   “Even the HES data is not an accurate snapshot as it only records those who have been in hospital.

   “There is a whole army of women out there suffering, either being told their pain has nothing to do with their mesh implant or they have things like recurring water infections going back and forth to their GP for antibiotics, but going nowhere near a hospital.

   “Others going back to GPs for repeat prescriptions of high dose painkillers and nerve blockers to deal with leg and stomach pain that can take your breath away.

   “Those stories are not recorded in the HES data. There are many more women suffering complications.

   “It is time for this operation to be stopped. The risks are too high.

   “The only way to know how many are suffering is with a national registry, like there is for hip implants. Only when that is in place will we see the true scale of this disaster.”

   The latest figures come from the HES database which is released for all hospital procedures at the end of each financial year.

   
   

   Return to headline | Return to top