Preview Newsletter
Ethicon Media Monitoring 7/5/2017
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Australian class action suit filed against Johnson & Johnson over pelvic mesh
Jul 5, 2017 | Reuters
By Ben Cooper
Australian women have brought a class-action case against Johnson & Johnson over complications arising from vaginal mesh implants - a lawsuit that follows many others in the United States, Canada and Europe. -
I would not want my wife to undergo this procedure’: Johnson & Johnson doctor flagged concerns over ‘defective vaginal mesh’ - as company faces class action
Jul 4, 2017 | Daily Mail
By Hannah Moore and Khaleda Rahman
A doctor who invented a Johnson & Johnson pelvic mesh device emailed another doctor to criticise his own work, the Federal Court heard on Tuesday. -
Women speak out about ‘excruciating pain’ as lawsuit against healthcare giant begins
Jul 4, 2017 | 9news
Women involved a massive class-action lawsuit over an allegedly faulty implant have shared their agony as the case opened in court today. -
Johnson & Johnson pelvic mesh doctor said he would not want his wife to undergo procedure, Federal Court told
Jul 5, 2017 | The Sydney Morning Herald
By Joanne McCarthy
"I would not want my wife to undergo this procedure," the French doctor wrote in an email to a colleague in 2005. "And I don't think I'm alone in that." -
Vaginal mesh implants: Gynaecologist urges proactive response to health concerns
Jul 5, 2017 | ABC News
By Claire Moodie
A leading gynaecologist says Australia has been slow to act on the health concerns caused by pelvic mesh implants. -
Court told how Johnson & Johnson conducted 'tidal wave of promotion'
Jul 5, 2017 | SBS
By Hannah Sinclair
Nine years ago Gai Thompson had a mesh implant that she said changed her life forever. -
Pelvic mesh implant sparks Australian class action suit
Jul 5, 2017 | AFP (The Citizen)
Johnson & Johnson defended the mesh products, saying they were developed in consultation with surgeons and backed by clinical research. -
Hundreds of Australian women join lawsuit against vaginal mesh manufacturer
Jul 5, 2017 | The New Daily
By Alana Mitchelson
Hundreds of Australian women enduring debilitating chronic pain after vaginal mesh implant surgery are seeking damages in a Federal Court class action against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. -
COLUMN: Getting to know you with Kath Sansom
Jul 5, 2017 | Ely Standard
By Kath Sansom
For writing stories in the newspaper, but also appearing on the Victoria Derbyshire Show talking about the dangers of mesh implants used to treat hernias and women’s pelvic health problems. -
Australian Women Sue Johnson & Johnson Over Vaginal Mesh Implants
Jul 5, 2017 | Immortal News
By Zye Angiwan
Over 700 women in Australia are bringing a class-action suit against pharmaceutical retailer Johnson & Johnson, claiming that the company’s vaginal mesh implants gave them severe pain, ruined their bodies, and in some cases, destroyed their lives. -
In our misogynist culture, it's no surprise under-10s are asking for labiaplasty
Jul 4, 2017 | New Statesman
It’s a perfectly logical response to the onslaught of negative messages women and girls receive about their bodies. -
Welcome to Mesh News Desk
Jul 4, 2017 | Mesh Medical Device News Desk
By Jane Akre
Mesh Medical Device News Desk has been at this for five years now, delivering news and information concerning this horrific chapter in American healthcare.
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
Online Sources
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Australian class action suit filed against Johnson & Johnson over pelvic mesh
Jul 5, 2017 | Reuters
By Ben Cooper
Australian women have brought a class-action case against Johnson & Johnson over complications arising from vaginal mesh implants - a lawsuit that follows many others in the United States, Canada and Europe.
The claim, which is being heard in Australia's Federal Court, said patients had suffered chronic pain, bleeding and severe discomfort during sexual intercourse since having the mesh surgically implanted. The devices are used to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
The Australian action was brought on behalf of more than 700 claimants.
Johnson & Johnson said it was only aware of 200 "product events" after selling more than 100,000 pelvic floor repair products in Australia.
"It is always a concern to us when a patient doesn't get the outcome they had hoped for, or believes they have experienced an adverse event," spokeswoman Meshlin Khouri said in a statement.
"However it is important to remember that the majority of women who have undergone this surgery have had a positive result, and it has improved their quality of life."
Johnson & Johnson is one of several manufacturers that sold the devices. Those companies are facing tens of thousands of individual lawsuits from plaintiffs who said they were injured by the mesh's poor design and substandard materials.
In May, California accused Johnson & Johnson of failing to warn doctors and patients about the severity and frequency of complications associated with its pelvic mesh devices.
An Australian parliamentary committee is also holding an inquiry into the products and is expected to report its findings at the end of November.
(Reporting by Ben Cooper; Editing by Jonathan Barrett and Edwina Gibbs)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-australia-idUSKBN19P0ZX
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Jul 4, 2017 | Daily Mail
By Hannah Moore and Khaleda Rahman
· Court heard doctor behind mesh product criticized his work in a 2005 email
· 'I would not want my wife to undergo this procedure,' he wrote
· Class action against Johnson & Johnson on behalf of more than 700 women began in Federal Court on Tuesday
· Women say they suffer endless pain due to mesh implants, among other ailments
A doctor who invented a Johnson & Johnson pelvic mesh device emailed another doctor to criticise his own work, the Federal Court heard on Tuesday.'I would not want my wife to undergo this procedure,' Dr Bernard Jacquetin wrote in 2005.
'And I don't think I am alone in that.'
The email surfaced as Johnson &Johnson face off against more than 700 Australian women who claim they have been left suffering painful and life altering complications as a result of the trans vaginal mesh products, the Newcastle Herald reported.
Tony Bannon SC, who was representing the women on behalf of Shine Lawyers, told the court nobody would want a loved one to go through with the procedure knowing what was truly involved.
'Once one understands what is really involved with this you wouldn't want your wife, your sister, your mother to undergo this, except in extreme circumstances,' he said
A statement from Shine Lawyers claims up to 8000 women are believed to have been impacted by the trans vaginal mesh products, which are surgically implanted to fix pelvic floor damage.
'The complications that Australian women are suffering include the mesh or tape eroding through, and into, surrounding tissue and organs, as well as incontinence, infection and chronic pain,' said Shine Lawyers' Special Counsel Rebecca Jancauskas.
Australian women have had their lives changed forever by these products. Many now live in excruciating pain, suffering terrible side effects that impact all aspects of their lives.
In many cases they are even unable to be intimate with their partners. It has had truly devastating consequences.'
The Australian class action comes after more than 100,000 women started legal action in the US and similar moves were taken in the UK and Canada.
In Australia, the controversial implants have been used to treat incontinent and prolapse caused by childbirth in thousands of cases since 2000, according to news.com.au.
Some women have said they were forced to stop working because of the agony they were left in, including making sex incredibly painful.
Jan Hawkins, 60, says she had to retire from her job as a primary school teacher after she developed severe complications from an implant she had inserted in 2007.
'It's like sandpaper inside you that every now and then rears its ugly head and pokes through organs and walls, which affects nerves and how they function,' Ms Hawkins told news.com.au.
'It's a terrible thing that rubs and creates a cheese grater effect.'
Even with full medical coverage, it still cost her about $20,000 to have the implant removed from one of the two doctors able to carry out the procedure, she said.
Louise King, one of the women in the class action suit, said she was not able to have sex with her husband after she had the implant after a prolapse.
'When we tried to make love, it was excruciating,' she told the ABC.
'We could never make love again before he died from prostate and lung cancer in 2014.'
Ms King added that her concerns were dismissed by her doctors.
'Now my whole body is wracked in pain and I have had to give up my dream job,' she added.
Shine is due to open its case in the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday, with Johnson & Johnson's lawyers to present their arguments next Monday.
Hearings are expected to run for about six months.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4664752/Johnson-Johnson-doctor-criticised-mesh-product-email.html#ixzz4lwIjKwcP
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Women speak out about ‘excruciating pain’ as lawsuit against healthcare giant begins
Jul 4, 2017 | 9news
Women involved a massive class-action lawsuit over an allegedly faulty implant have shared their agony as the case opened in court today.
Mother-of-two Gai Thompson said the effects of the vaginal mesh implant were more painful than giving birth without an epidural.
"There has honestly never been one day where I haven't had pain," she told A Current Affair.
Mrs Thompson received the mesh implant following a hysterectomy.
"No amount of money can give me back nine years of my life," she said.
"No amount of money can give my children and husband back the person I was before this, but my hope is that this mesh will be banned."
Complainant Myra Davis believes getting compensation would help her move forward.
"It's not right that those things are taken away from someone," she said.
More than 700 women claiming to be suffering strong pain from vaginal mesh implants came together to launch the class action suit against global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, believed to be one of the largest in Australia.
It follows similar legal action against Johnson & Johnson by more than 100,000 women in the US, and other lawsuits in the UK and Canada.
Shine Lawyers is representing the complainants, and lawyer Rebecca Jancauskas described the suffering alleged victims endured.
"The complications that Australian women are suffering include the mesh or tape eroding through, and into, surrounding tissue and organs, as well as incontinence, infection and chronic pain," she said.
"Many now live in excruciating pain, suffering terrible side effects that impact all aspects of their lives."
The mesh is also the subject of an ongoing Senate inquiry.
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/07/04/18/23/women-speak-out-about-excruciating-pain-as-lawsuit-against-healthcare-giant-begins
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Jul 5, 2017 | The Sydney Morning Herald
By Joanne McCarthy
"I would not want my wife to undergo this procedure," the French doctor wrote in an email to a colleague in 2005. "And I don't think I'm alone in that."
The email from Dr Bernard Jacquetin - about a controversial pelvic mesh device he invented for implantation in women - drew gasps from the public gallery when it was read to the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday, on the first day of a class action brought by more than 700 women against Johnson & Johnson.
Dr Jacquetin was part of a Johnson & Johnson transvaginal mesh evaulation team, the court was told, and his email was included in an internal company document.
Tony Bannon SC, acting for the women, told Justice Anna Katzmann that the subliminal message of the email was "those of us who were in the know".
"Once one understands what is really involved with this, you wouldn't want your wife, your sister, your mother to undergo this, except in extreme circumstances," Mr Bannon said.
Mr Bannon said his clients' lives had been "dramatically altered for the worse" since undergoing the procedure for incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse, which can happen after childbirth.
"Their enjoyment of life has been seriously compromised," he said.
Each of the 700 women had suffered continuous, frequent and often unbearable pain, he said.
Up to 100,000 Johnson & Johnson pelvic mesh devices have been implanted in Australian women.
The three lead complainants in the case were seeking substantial damages in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mr Bannon told the court.
The court heard evidence from another internal Johnson & Johnson document from May 2010, which described the kind of doctor the mesh devices were aimed at.
They were doctors who could "do" a Johnson & Johnson TVT mesh device in eight minutes.
Johnson & Johnson envisaged these doctor-clients as the kind who would see the devices helping enhance their reputations and revenues.
They were more likely "mid-career doctors" who saw their practices as businesses.
The court heard the internal Johnson & Johnson document pictured doctors who would use the product as the type who would also enjoy holidays in St Moritz and Lamborghinis.
The document quoted one of the imagined doctor-clients as saying "that makes four (mesh surgeries) before lunch, that works for me".
Mr Bannon told the court the document exhibited the internal approach of Johnson & Johnson to the mesh devices.
He said there was a valuable market to be gained out there by emphasising the speed of the mesh surgery.
The court will also hear of the lack of evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of pelvic mesh devices.
One of the women implanted with a pelvic mesh device, Jo Manion, left the courtroom after Mr Bannon read the internal Johnson & Johnson documents.
Ms Manion was visibly upset through some of the evidence.
The hearing continues.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/johnson--johnson-pelvic-mesh-doctor-said-he-would-not-want-his-wife-to-undergo-procedure-federal-court-told-20170704-gx4i27.html
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Vaginal mesh implants: Gynaecologist urges proactive response to health concerns
Jul 5, 2017 | ABC News
By Claire Moodie
A leading gynaecologist says Australia has been slow to act on the health concerns caused by pelvic mesh implants.
Key points:Class action begins against mesh manufacturerGynaecologist says Australia has been too slow to react to problemsUrges surgeons to treat the symptoms proactively
"I'm actually quite confident if we had intervened earlier, there wouldn't be these horror stories that we hear now," Professor Thierry Vancaillie, of the Women's Health and Research Institute, told 7.30.
"It tells us that dealing with pain and organ dysfunction is not something that we do well in our speciality.
"And it's about time that we changed."
And he is warning against a rush to automatically remove vaginal mesh from women who are experiencing pain.
"What we're trying to bring to the issue is to have a more formal approach, not just mesh surgery," Professor Vancaillie said.
"Look at the patient as a whole, treat the pain, treat the organs, and then, if we need to remove the mesh, do it as well as we can and remove the entire prosthesis."
More than 700 women have begun a class action against Johnson and Johnson claiming they were injured by vaginal mesh implants used to treat pelvic floor problems.
The suffering of these women is beyond belief. Literally," Professor Vancaillie said.
"Some of them are unable to function, they are unable to walk, they lose their ability to have intercourse, they lose their ability to work … their mental health is affected.
"They've lost everything, really."
Professor Vancaillie said the women have been ignored.
"There's no support whatsoever," he said.
"There's very little in terms of public health support for these women.
"They need a lot more support than your average pain patients."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-04/vaginal-mesh-implants-surgeon-urges-proactive-response/8677488
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Court told how Johnson & Johnson conducted 'tidal wave of promotion'
Jul 5, 2017 | SBS
By Hannah Sinclair
Nine years ago Gai Thompson had a mesh implant that she said changed her life forever.
“The mesh destroys lives, it destroys you physically and emotionally,” Ms Thompson told reporters outside the court in Sydney.
Ms Thompson is one of the seven hundred women involved in one of the country's largest product liability class actions, taking on Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon.
“Today is their chance to be heard and seek justice for what was lost,” Shine Lawyers’ Rebecca Jancauskas said.
“This is about accountability and ensuring this never happens again.”
The mesh is used to treat common complications after childbirth, such as prolapse and incontinence.
Shine’s Barrister Tony Bannon SC told the court many of the women now live in excruciating pain due to inflammation and infection.
Some are unable to work or be intimate with partners, meaning their "enjoyment of life had been seriously compromised and dramatically altered for the worse."
The court heard Johnson & Johnson conducted an aggressive "tidal wave of promotion" towards surgeons, spruiking the procedure without conducting appropriate clinical trials.
Lawyers for the claimants say removing the implant is near impossible and "is a highly complex, life threatening surgery. Even if removed the pain and disability will continue."
The court heard patients weren't properly advised of the risks involved with the surgery, and that if they were they never would have gone ahead with it.
More than 100,000 women have started legal action against the pharmaceutical giant in the US, the UK and Canada.
Some of the products involved in the suit are still available to purchase.
“There’s too many women who are injured,” implant victim Joanne Maninon said.
“The pain, the complication, the autoimmune diseases. It’s lifelong. You don’t just have the mesh removed and then recover and go on with life. You’re damaged for life.”
Johnson & Johnson says the products were developed in consultation with specialist surgeons and the majority of women had a positive result.
A statement from Johnson & Johnson said: “We have sold over 100,000 mesh products in the Australian market.
“We have been notified of fewer than 200 total product events. 67 of these product events were assessed as reportable to the TGA and Medsafe, in line with their requirements.
“It is always a concern to us when a patient doesn’t get the outcome they had hoped for, or believes they have experienced an adverse event.
“However it is important to remember that the majority of women who have undergone this surgery have had a positive result, and it has improved their quality of life.”
Their lawyers will give evidence next week.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/07/04/court-told-how-johnson-johnson-conducted-tidal-wave-promotion
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Pelvic mesh implant sparks Australian class action suit
Jul 5, 2017 | AFP (The Citizen)
Johnson & Johnson defended the mesh products, saying they were developed in consultation with surgeons and backed by clinical research.
A major Australian class action suit on behalf of more than 700 women was launched against global health-care giant Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday over an implant they claim causes serious side-effects including chronic pain.
The lawsuit followed the establishment of an Australian parliamentary inquiry earlier this year over the mesh implanted through surgery to fix pelvic floor damage and treat urinary incontinence and prolapse.
Similar legal action has also been taken in the United States and Britain.
Johnson & Johnson faces 55,800 plaintiffs in pelvic mesh cases in the US alone, with the “number of pending product liability lawsuits continues to increase” for the products by its unit Ethicon, the firm said in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shine Lawyers, which is representing the claimants in the Federal Court, allege that up to 8,000 women in Australia were believed to be impacted by the implants.
“Australian women have had their lives changed forever by these products,” Shine Lawyers Special Counsel Rebecca Jancauskas said in a statement.
“Many now live in excruciating pain, suffering terrible side effects that impact all aspects of their lives. In many cases they are even unable to be intimate with their partners. It has had truly devastating consequences.”
Shine said the case was expected to last about six months, with the claimants hopeful it would lead to other women not having to experience the same issues.
“We have always complied fully with local regulatory requirements when providing the products in Australia, and have acted ethically and responsibly in the research, development and supply of the products,” a spokeswoman for the US company said in a statement.
She said more than 100,000 mesh products had been sold in Australia, but that the company had only been notified of “fewer than 200 total product events”, with 67 cases referred to Australian and New Zealand regulators.
http://citizen.co.za/news/news-world/1559525/pelvic-mesh-implant-sparks-australian-class-action-suit/
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Hundreds of Australian women join lawsuit against vaginal mesh manufacturer
Jul 5, 2017 | The New Daily
By Alana Mitchelson
Hundreds of Australian women enduring debilitating chronic pain after vaginal mesh implant surgery are seeking damages in a Federal Court class action against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.
Victorian Shauna Cahill is one of thousands of Australian women who say they suffer constant and severe pain after operations involving a vaginal mesh implant to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) – damage to the pelvic floor, usually caused by childbirth.
The 35-year-old mother of two is now confined to a wheelchair on what she describes as a “good day”. That’s when she feels up to getting out of bed and leaving the house.
“I wet myself daily and have recurring infections because my body’s trying to reject it [the mesh],” Ms Cahill said.
Shine Lawyers, the firm behind the lawsuit which commenced on Tuesday, said as many as 8000 Australian women are thought to have been impacted by life-altering symptoms after such surgery, with at least 700 having used Johnson & Johnson products.
However, it is estimated elsewhere that up to 30,000 Australians may be suffering complications as a result of a vaginal mesh implant.
The legal action has come after more than 100,000 women sought similar compensation in the United States, with similar moves taken in the UK and Canada.
Meanwhile, in Scotland there has been a call for the mesh to be banned.
A prolapse occurs when the walls of the vagina weaken and collapse inwards or outwards causing pain or discomfort for up to 50 per centof women who have had children.
College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists president Stephen Robson told The New Daily that according to US figures, about one in six women with POP choose to have surgery to treat severe symptoms.
During proceedings on Tuesday, Barrister Tony Bannon quoted an internal email from French doctor Bernard Jacquetin, running a clinical trial for the manufacturer, who allegedly wrote: “I wouldn’t like my wife to undergo this procedure.”
Shine lawyer Rebecca Jancauskas said side effects included the mesh (or tape) eroding through and into surrounding tissue and organs, as well as incontinence, infection and chronic pain.
She said some of these implants were still available on the market.‘I can’t play with my kids’
Ms Cahill said she was diagnosed with POP in late 2015 and was not made aware the repair surgery involved mesh.
“On a bad day I lay on the couch and my children [aged eight and 10] bring me some water, heat packs or my pain medication – things that a mum should be doing for her own kids,” she told The New Daily.
“On a good day, they take me to and from the toilet and help lift me in and out of the car. I don’t know what I would do without them.
“I can’t play with my children, (or) ride bikes with them.I used to go to the gym up to six times a week and now I can’t even walk around the block.
Ms Cahill, who has since launched a Facebook page, hopes that with more awareness, women can make a more informed decision about whether to use mesh.
Johnson & Johnson has sold more than 100,000 mesh products in Australia but says that does not equate to the number of women allegedly affected.
A company spokeswoman told The New Daily the “majority” of women who have had surgical treatment with mesh for POP or SUI have a “good long-term result“.
Hearings are expected to run for about six months.
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COLUMN: Getting to know you with Kath Sansom
Jul 5, 2017 | Ely Standard
By Kath Sansom
What do you do?
Journalist for Ely Standard and I run women’s health campaign Sling The Mesh
Why would people know you?
For writing stories in the newspaper, but also appearing on the Victoria Derbyshire Show talking about the dangers of mesh implants used to treat hernias and women’s pelvic health problems.
On a scale of 1-10 (10 highest) what do you rate your sense of humour?
If somebody likes my sense of humour then 10. If not then 0.
Give us at least five pet hates.
Rude people; racists; make up tested on animals – there is no need; trainer socks that shimmy down under your heels inside your footwear as you walk along; those stupid vape pens.
Brexit – in or out?
Leaving would be disastrous for farmers and legal issues like medical device regulation.
What is your favourite thing about East Cambridgeshire?
The cathedral. I never tire of walking around it and soaking up the peace.
Who would you cross the road to avoid?
I face all things head on – even people I may inwardly want to avoid
Who was your childhood hero and why?
Gymnast Olga Corbett. I was envious of the way she effortlessly flick flacked across the floor.
Your claim to fame.
I run Sling The Mesh and am making in roads into surgeons realising this is one of the biggest health disasters of our time
What character would dress as for a fancy dress party?
When I was six my mum sent me to a fancy dress competition at a local fete dressed as Mr Rising Prices as a pastiche personal political statement about the Government of the day. I was duly rolled me up in some anaglypta wallpaper and painted to look like a £5 note. My neighbour Beverley Morrell won the competition dressed as Little Bo Peep.. It was a sad day.
So, with that in mind, I think I might like to be Little Bo Peep.
http://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/column-getting-to-know-you-with-kath-sansom-1-5089633
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Australian Women Sue Johnson & Johnson Over Vaginal Mesh Implants
Jul 5, 2017 | Immortal News
By Zye Angiwan
Over 700 women in Australia are bringing a class-action suit against pharmaceutical retailer Johnson & Johnson, claiming that the company’s vaginal mesh implants gave them severe pain, ruined their bodies, and in some cases, destroyed their lives.
In countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, thousands of other women have filed lawsuits against the company, for the same reason. The pelvic mesh devices are used to treat urinary incontinence and supposedly repair pelvic organ prolapse, a condition that occurs when childbirth shifts organs out of place, US News reports.
Patients who have sued the manufacturers reported that the mesh caused them chronic pain, infections, incontinence and loss of sexual abilities. In 2014, Endo International, based in Ireland, settled over 20,000 personal injury lawsuits amounting to around $830 million to settle similar claims made against their mesh devices.
The Australian trial, which began Tuesday, is expected to last six months. According to the suits, Johnson & Johnson failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the risks the devices might cause. In addition, the lawsuits argue that the products were not suitable for the purposes they were designed to fit, and testing was inadequate before the mesh implants reached the market.
Jan Saddler of Shine Lawyers, the firm representing the women, said that the primary problem was that the devices erode into the surrounding tissue and organs, causing a chronic inflammation. Almost all of the women involved in the suit complained of perpetual pain, and are said to have suffered relationship issues due to their lack of sexual function. Saddler said,
Saddler said, Many women are no longer able to have any sort of sexual relationship, or if they are able to have a sexual relationship, there is a lot of pain associated with that.
She added, “Women have been also unable to really enjoy proper fulfilling relationships not only with their partners, but with their children, with their friends…Women have found it very difficult to work in the way they used to work. So it’s had really debilitating impacts.”The manufacturer has sold over 100,000 mesh products in Australia. The lawsuit points to nine separate devices, five of which Johnson & Johnson have removed from the market. None of the products have been recalled by Australian regulators.
In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration reclassified all pelvic mesh implants as “high risk” and not “moderate,” meaning they need to undergo extra regulatory scrutiny. However, there has been no recall, as well.
https://www.immortal.org/34139/australian-women-sue-johnson-johnson-vaginal-mesh-implants/
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In our misogynist culture, it's no surprise under-10s are asking for labiaplasty
Jul 4, 2017 | New Statesman
It’s a perfectly logical response to the onslaught of negative messages women and girls receive about their bodies.
irls didn’t talk about labiaplasty when I was nine years old. The thought of wanting a crotch like Barbie’s – bare, smooth, undefined – would have struck us as bizarre.
We still learned to hate our female bodies, but in ways appropriate to our time and place. We starved and self-harmed, binged and purged, but our hatred was blunt and unrefined. We didn’t yet know that each body part merits a hatred all of its own.
Today’s pre-teen girls are different. It’s not enough to despise your budding breasts, or the soft expanse of your stomach, or those thighs that you pinch until they’re bruised. You have to go much further than that. There are specific tests to pass – do you have a thigh gap? A bikini bridge? – plus there are constant developments in the field of cutesy terminology for places where you might have excess fat (muffin tops, side boobs, bingo wings, back fat and cankles aren’t even the half of it).
It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that under-tens are now asking to have their vulvas reshaped. Why not? There can’t be an inch of female flesh that isn’t in need of fixing – why stop once you get between the legs? It may seem inappropriate to be considering something so intimate at such an early age, but it’s also an age at which girls start to learn more about their sexual selves. In today’s pornified, misogynistic culture, why wouldn’t their first thought be “so what needs correcting here?”
It’s been suggested that this trend is down to “insecurities stemming from adult content such as pornography”. Speaking to the BBC, GP Paquita de Zulueta argues that “there isn't enough education and it should start really quite young, explaining that there is a range and that – just as we all look different in our faces – we all look different down there, and that's OK.”
She may have a point; then again the fact that we all look different in our faces hasn’t prevented the existence of a multi-billion-pound industry committed to injecting and slicing women’s faces to make them all look the same.
Yes, girls and boys are seeing pornographic images which distort their perception of what is “normal”, but even with images which counter that, they still know that the pornified female body is being held up as the ideal.
There’s a subtle form of victim-blaming going on here. No one wants to come right out and say “images in porn are damaging to women and girls”. So instead we talk about girls and their insecurities, of their need for education, of gaining a positive body image as something akin to gaining a GCSE in French. Rather than challenge a culture that is destroying girls’ mental health, we accept the destruction, then generously offer to teach girls to be less vulnerable.
It would be quite unthinkable to take away the men’s porn, and equally unthinkable to ask why the women in pornography should all have genitals that resemble those of a child. Instead, let’s look a nine-year-old girl in the face and tell her the way she feels about her body is all down to her own lack of worldly experience.
It’s at this point that feminist voices should be heard, pointing out that double injustice of making young girls responsible for mitigating the harm done to them by patriarchy. Unfortunately, modern feminism, with its squeamishness regarding the sexed body and its obsession with agency, has painted itself into a corner. Your body, your choice – if you want to wax it, plump it, bind it, slice it, then who can tell you otherwise? Who can possibly tell the difference between a girl who wants to look like a Barbie doll because the patriarchy’s told her she should, and one who freely chooses to present as a plastic, dead-eyed doll because that’s her identity? No one, that’s who.
Hence feminism’s version of “accepting your body” has become a matter, not of accepting the body you have, but of embracing your right to do whatever might be deemed necessary to make it “acceptable”. You can argue the toss over whether a nine-year-old should have the same rights to do what she wants as an 18-year-old (in this instance I don’t think she should), but you can’t blame her for thinking there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with hating your labia and wanting it sculpted away. Look, those other women are doing it!
There’s nothing foolish or deluded about hating your vulva; on the contrary, it’s a perfectly logical response to the onslaught of negative messages women and girls receive about their bodies. Nonetheless, the depth and authenticity of that feeling doesn’t make it an inevitable fact of life. Women and girls aren’t lying when they say their bodies disgust them, but that doesn’t mean surgeons should be lining up to validate that disgust.
Plastic surgeon Miles Berry told the BBC that his work “can change people fundamentally, the feelings they have about themselves, their confidence and self-esteem”. He describes seeing “patients aged between 16 and 21 who have never had a boyfriend because they are so concerned about this”.
Berry doesn’t seem disturbed that young women feel this way in the first place. If you are afraid a man will judge you unless your labia is perfectly symmetrical, then what other lengths will you go to in order to please? I once threw away a women’s magazine because it featured an interview with a lads' mag editor who boasted that he’d “kicked a woman out of bed” for not shaving her pubic hair. But that was the nineties; we were innocent then. And at least pubic hair grows back.
Now in my forties, with three vaginal births behind me, I admit to having my own concerns about the state of myself “down below”. None of these are cosmetic, however, and I’m aware that no one’s all that interested in messy, non-pornified, birth-giving vaginas and their flaws. This may be why hundreds of UK women are currently taking legal action over pain and disability caused by vaginal mesh implants used to treat birth injuries. It may also be why an estimated two million women globally are debilitated by obstetric fistula, a preventable birth injury which causes incontinence. If only the research, time and money that goes into “fixing” perfectly healthy vulvas went into fixing the damage done to women’s bodies by the miracle of birth, think how much suffering could be prevented!
Then again, this would require the understanding that women’s bodies aren’t just objects being offered up for male approval; they are indivisible from women’s whole, fully human selves. But even a nine-year-old girl knows that’s just not how the world works.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/07/our-misogynist-culture-its-no-surprise-under-10s-are-asking-labiaplasty
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Jul 4, 2017 | Mesh Medical Device News Desk
By Jane Akre
Mesh Medical Device News Desk has been at this for five years now, delivering news and information concerning this horrific chapter in American healthcare.
If you are a steady reader, would you consider a monthly donation? Even a small amount will help with this effort to bring the latest mesh and medical device news.
Patients are still being implanted with polypropylene mesh, not just transvaginal mesh. There are one million hernia mesh surgeries a year. Still the questions remain about the biocompatibility of PP mesh. Those questions are not answered, yet still it is used.
Thank you for contributing to this effort to uncover what we don’t know in an effort to contribute to the body of what we do know.
Mesh Medical Device News Desk is not a legal referral service and does not belong to any law firm. I DO take advertising and sponsored content, which is marked as such. If contributing to comment section, please do not use your last name! Thank you.
Settlement offers are coming in to many readers with transvaginal mesh and many of you who write that you will not take them!
When you do, you sign away your right ever to file another action AND you must keep quiet about the settlement amount. Your pain and suffering, lost wages, loss of consortium and punitive damages are not considered in these settlements, and except for a few of you they are very disappointing. Please think carefully before you sign on the dotted line.
If your doctor is suggesting transvaginal mesh, also known as a “sling” or “hammock” is all that will cure your incontinence, read on! Ask if your doctor can do a non-mesh repair and if you are a candidate. The pages here will attest to the fact that that is the most important research you can do to help yourself. Advocate for yourself before surgery, and certainly afterward!
MND continues to believe this chapter of the reckless used of a medical device for profit that is showing so much harm, and the continued use by doctors and industry, is not acceptable. If you have not suffered harm, congratulations! You are among the lucky ones. At least for now.
At this time, no one can tell you if you will have an adverse reaction and when. Hopefully you will not.
So that’s July for you.
Happy Birthday America.
Pray for us all!
http://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/welcome-mesh-news-desk-2/
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