Preview Newsletter
Ethicon Media Monitoring 7/18/2017
-
Vaginal mesh implant patients meet MPs
Jul 18, 2017 | BBC
Women across the UK who have said they have been left physically and mentally scarred after having vaginal mesh implants have taken their campaign to ban the procedure to Westminster. -
Senior doctors call for public inquiry into use of vaginal mesh surgery in UK
Jul 19, 2017 | The Guardian
By Hannah Devlin
Experts draw comparisons with the thalidomide scandal as they reveal that traumatic complications are more common than official figures suggest -
‘Danger’ of vaginal mesh surgery for new mothers
Jul 19, 2017 | The Times
By Kat Lay,
A standard procedure to treat problems caused by childbirth leads to complications more often than officially admitted, doctors have warned. -
Women meet MPs over vaginal mesh implants
Jul 18, 2017 | Medical Plastics News
By Reece Armstrong
Women who have suffered from complications due to vaginal mesh implants will meet with MPs in an attempt to get the devices banned. -
Vaginal mesh implant campaign being brought to Westminster
Jul 18, 2017 | Belfast Telegraph Digital
Campaigners aiming to have vaginal mesh implant procedures banned are set to meet with MPs later today. -
Big day for women’s health campaign that began its roots at our newspaper office in March - Sling The Mesh fight goes to Parliamentary lobby
Jul 18, 2017 | Cambs Times
By John Elworthy
More than 80 women and their families from across Britain are travelling to Parliament today (Tuesday 18) to urge for a suspension of what they say is a high risk women’s operation thanks to a campaign spearheaded by a journalist from our newspaper group. -
Weekly journalist takes fight to ban medical procedure to Westminster
Jul 19, 2017 | Hold The Front Page
By David Sharman
A regional journalist has taken her fight to ban an operation which left her a “physical wreck” to Westminster. -
A Senate inquiry on pelvic mesh hears mesh victims have been treated like child sexual abuse victims
Jul 19, 2017 | Newcastle Herlad
By Joanne McCarthy
THE pelvic mesh scandal that has left an unknown number of Australian women with serious, permanent injuries has exposed a health system “asleep at the wheel while this tragedy has unfolded”, a leading consumer health group has told a Senate inquiry into mesh. -
Newcastle business owner says 2005 mesh surgery left her with many unknowns
Jul 19, 2017 | Newcastle Herlad
By Joanne McCarthy
ROBYN Ramster is 63, a Wickham business owner and a woman who has lived with the consequences of pelvic mesh surgery in 2005 – including an operation last week which a doctor described as “scraping the mesh off your bladder”.
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
Online Sources
-
Vaginal mesh implant patients meet MPs
Jul 18, 2017 | BBC
Women across the UK who have said they have been left physically and mentally scarred after having vaginal mesh implants have taken their campaign to ban the procedure to Westminster.
Around 60 women met a group of MPs about the issue.
The women, including many from Northern Ireland, had mesh or tape implants - devices used to treat organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.
These conditions can be common after childbirth.Case studies: Mesh led to 'excruciating pain'Hundreds suing NHS over vaginal implantsWhat's the issue with mesh implants?'Chronic pain'
Jackie Harvey, who is from Banbridge in County Down, had the implants inserted 12 years ago and suffered many problems.
She told BBC Good Morning Ulster that Tuesday's meeting would hopefully put pressure on politicians to debate the issue in parliament and implement a ban on the procedure.
"I was fine for a short time after I got the implant but I went on to develop chronic pain in the pelvic area, hips, groin and thighs.
"I got x-rays and saw a rheumatologist but at no stage did anyone make a connection, and I didn't make a connection either."
Ms Harvey said she only realised the implant could have been causing her pain after reading an online article about a woman who had similar symptoms and had also had a mesh implant inserted.
"I had the implant removed in March this year in England.
"Most of the problems have disappeared, but the pain is still there - however I feel much better than I was before."
She now runs an online forum to support those affected and of its 173 members, about 150 are understood to be from Northern Ireland.'Health scandal'
The Scottish parliament put a moratorium on implants in 2014.
However, operations have begun again in Scotland with improved safeguards.
The former chair of the Northern Ireland Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Dr Robin Ashe said: "The use of mesh for the management of urinal incontinence is regarded as a safe and effective procedure in the right circumstances and in the right hands.
"As time has progressed, we have realised that one needs to be very careful about the circumstances under which these devices are placed.
"Our complication rates for the devices in the management of urinal incontinence... are very low in the short and medium term.
"What might be coming about now, is over a long period of time, we are recognising more complications and that requires to be evaluated further," said Dr Ashe.
Earlier this month, the Shadow Secretary of State, Owen Smith, unsuccessfully bid for a debate on vaginal mesh implants to be held in the house of commons.
He helped organise Tuesday's meeting.
He said: "This is a really big issue and it isn't going to go away.
"I hope today's meetings will make sure there is a much greater profile of what I think is a serious health scandal.
"As soon as parliament comes back over summer, I will be resubmitting my bid for a debate."
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-40640880
-
Senior doctors call for public inquiry into use of vaginal mesh surgery in UK
Jul 19, 2017 | The Guardian
By Hannah Devlin
Experts draw comparisons with the thalidomide scandal as they reveal that traumatic complications are more common than official figures suggest
Senior doctors have called for a public inquiry into the use of vaginal mesh surgery amid mounting concerns that a significant proportion of patients have been left with traumatic complications.
Speaking at a meeting in parliament, Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, drew comparisons with the thalidomide scandal, saying that there was evidence that mesh procedures, used to treat complications from childbirth, carry significantly more risk than official figures suggest.
“With thalidomide you could see the visual representation. [With mesh] you can’t see it,” Heneghan told the meeting. “We should have a public inquiry.”
Between 2007 and 2016, more than 126,000 women in England were treated with mesh implants, tapes and slings, for urinary incontinence and organ prolapse, according to figures obtained by the Guardian.
The procedures involve inserting a plastic mesh into the vagina to support the bladder, womb or bowel. In the majority of cases these operations are quick and successful.
However, speaking at the meeting in parliament, Heneghan and Sohier Elneil, a consultant urogynaecologist at University College Hospital, said that complication rates for some types of procedure appeared to be unacceptably high, and raised questions about whether the surgery was being used inappropriately.
Elneil said that unpublished research by her team, based on Hospital Episode Statistics, suggest that urinary incontinence surgery has a readmission rate of 8.9% and that most of these patients required some form of subsequent procedure. “These are not minor complications,” she said.
By contrast, a report by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government watchdog, suggested a roughly 1-2% rate of pain or “erosion” for mesh procedures related to incontinence.
Heneghan cited a recent Lancet study, which showed that the readmission rate for one form of mesh surgery for prolapse was 19% – although the figure varied depending on the type of procedure.
The meeting came as a group of patients in the UK are preparing a class action against manufacturers. David Golten, a partner at Wedlake Bell LLP, claims his firm is already representing 200 women. Previously, there have been huge payouts linked to lawsuits in the US and a major trial against Johnson & Johnson began in Australia last week.
The meeting also heard a series of harrowing testimonies from patients who had experienced life-altering complications due to surgery.
Karen Preater, 40, from Rhyl, described how she was left with intense pain after having mesh surgery to treat incontinence. “My kids don’t remember the mum from three and a half years ago. I don’t do the things I used to do,” she said. “I can categorically say, if I didn’t have my children I wouldn’t be here today.”
Carol Williams, 58, also from North Wales, broke down in tears as she told the meeting how she had been admitted to the Priory clinic after becoming suicidal due to an escalating series of complications brought about by her surgery for pelvic prolapse.
Others spoke of “cheese wire” pain, removal of organs that had become ensnared in the mesh, loss of their sex lives and the psychological toll of not being listened to by their doctors. One women said she was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder “like a soldier coming back from Afghanistan”.
In some cases, the patients had opted for what they said was presented as a “quick fix” to treat problems that were annoying but not debilitating, such as mild urinary incontinence.
John Osborne, a retired gynaecologist, said that when the procedure was introduced in the 1990s, it was used far too liberally, in the absence of good evidence on the risks.
“Surgeons were saying ‘no problem, I can fix you up with a little mesh’,” he said. “The mesh was being put in too many people, too easily. I’m not saying that mesh should be totally banned, but not used in the numbers that it has been.”
If problems occur, having the procedure reversed is a complex and risky procedure because the mesh, which is designed to be permanent, becomes embedded in the surrounding tissue. Kath Sansom, founder of Sling the Mesh campaign, described this as like “trying to remove chewing gum from matted hair”.
The meeting in parliament was organised by Owen Smith, the Labour MP for Pontypridd, and Sling the Mesh, a campaign group that is calling for the procedure to be banned.
However, other doctors have cautioned that problems have arisen mostly due to aggressive marketing of substandard products by companies and, in some cases, inadequate training on the part of doctors.
Mark Slack, a consultant gynaecologist at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, said: “The TVT [the most common mesh procedure] is a good operation if done by the right people by the right indications,” he said.
“We now for the first time have masses of patients coming in and saying ‘You’re not going to put mesh in me are you?’” he added. “There’s a danger of creating a massive problem.”
Alternative treatments for incontinence and prolapse also carry risks, he said – and in some cases the complication rates could be worse.
In a statement, the MHRA said: “Patient safety is our highest priority and we sympathise with women who have suffered complications after surgery.
“We are committed to help address the serious concerns raised by some patients. We have undertaken a great deal of work to continuously assess findings of studies undertaken by the clinical community over many years, as well as considering the feedback from all sources in that time.
“What we continue to see is that evidence supports the use of these devices in the UK for treatment of the distressing conditions of incontinence and organ prolapse, in appropriate circumstances. This is supported by the greater proportion of the clinical community and patients.
“In common with other medical device regulators worldwide, none of whom have removed these devices from the market, we are not aware of a robust body of evidence which would lead to the conclusion these devices are unsafe if used as intended.”
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/18/senior-doctors-call-for-public-inquiry-into-use-of-vaginal-mesh-surgery-in-uk
-
‘Danger’ of vaginal mesh surgery for new mothers
Jul 19, 2017 | The Times
By Kat Lay,
A standard procedure to treat problems caused by childbirth leads to complications more often than officially admitted, doctors have warned.
Senior doctors have called for a public inquiry into the use of vaginal mesh surgery in Britain, saying it could be akin to the thalidomide scandal.
The procedure uses a piece of plastic mesh, inserted into the vagina, to support the bladder, womb or bowel. According to figures reported in The Guardian, more than 126,000 women in England were treated between 2007 and lasst year. A significant number of women suffer traumatic complications, campaigners say.
Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, told a meeting in parliament: “With thalidomide you could see the visual representation. [With mesh] you can’t see it.”
Sohier Elneil, a consultant urogynaecologist at University College Hospital, London, said unpublished research by her team suggested that such surgery had a readmission rate of 8.9 per cent.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has suggested a rate of between 1 or 2 per cent of pain or erosion after mesh procedures to treat incontinence.
The meeting was organised by Owen Smith, the Labour MP for Pontypridd, and Sling the Mesh, a group that wants the procedure banned. It heard from women who said they had been left suicidal by complications, and complained of “cheese wire” pain, loss of their sex life, and the removal of organs.
The MHRA said evidence suggested that the devices were safe “if used as intended”, adding: “We are committed to help address the serious concerns raised by some patients.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/danger-of-vaginal-mesh-surgery-for-new-mothers-thalidomide-gynaecologist-childbirth-incontinence-depression-3mjtjzwc3
-
Women meet MPs over vaginal mesh implants
Jul 18, 2017 | Medical Plastics News
By Reece Armstrong
Women who have suffered from complications due to vaginal mesh implants will meet with MPs in an attempt to get the devices banned.
Around 60 women who have experienced chronic pain and other issues due to the devices will meet with MPs.
Vaginal mesh implants are made from polypropylene and are used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence following childbirth. The devices have been highly controversial and a number of women have spoken out about the pain they’ve experienced after having the mesh implants.
In Australia, 700 women have taken Johnson & Johnson to court over its vaginal mesh implants, claiming the product has ruined their lives.
In 2016 Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay over $120 million in relation to 2,000-3,000 US legal cases brought by women who claimed to have suffered organ damage due to vaginal mesh.
As well as meeting MPS, the women will attend an event, hosted by Labour’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen MP who has campaigned against the implants in the past.
Smith has previously failed to get the issue debated in the house of commons but will continue try to bring it up later this year.
Speaking ahead of the event, Smith said: “I am deeply concerned that so many women have experienced profound, life-changing complications after mesh surgery. Women who have undergone the surgery invariably say they were advised that this was a simple operation, with little accompanying risk. But for too many, mesh implants have been the cause of chronic and debilitating pain. This issue must be more widely known and discussed."
A report on the use of mesh implants was published by the Scottish Parliament in March 2017. The report recommended that vaginal mesh implants could continue under certain conditions but that patients should be made aware of any alternative treatments.
BBC Good Morning Ulster spoke to Jackie Harvey, who is part of the campaign and had an implant installed 12 years ago before getting it removed.
Harvey said: “I was fine for a short time after I got the implant but I went on to develop chronic pain in the pelvic area, hips, groin and thighs. I got x-rays and saw a rheumatologist but at no stage did anyone make a connection, and I didn't make a connection either."
"I had the implant removed in March this year in England. Most of the problems have disappeared, but the pain is still there - however I feel much better than I was before."
http://www.medicalplasticsnews.com/news/medical-devices/women-meet-mps-to/
-
Vaginal mesh implant campaign being brought to Westminster
Jul 18, 2017 | Belfast Telegraph Digital
Campaigners aiming to have vaginal mesh implant procedures banned are set to meet with MPs later today.
The group is made up of around 60 women from across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland that have experienced chronic pain after undergoing the procedure.
The use of mesh is used to treat issues like pelvic organ prolapses and stress incontinence, conditions that are often brought about by childbirth.
Over the past few years there have been increased reports of women experiencing extreme pain after undergoing a mesh procedure, and in 2014 Scotland put a temporary stop on the use of vaginal mesh implants.
In March of this year a report on the subject was published by Scottish Parliament, recommending that vaginal mesh implants could continue under certain conditions and that, among other things, patients should be made aware of alternative treatments.
A legal challenge by women in Northern Ireland is currently in the preliminary stage, and Belfast-based negligence solicitors Thompsons NI has appealed for anyone impacted by mesh implants to come forward.
As well as a meeting with MPS, an event will take place outside of Portcullis House in Westminster at around 1pm, July 18 and will be addressed by Labour's shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Smith MP.
Speaking ahead of the event Mr Smith said: "I am deeply concerned that so many women have experienced profound, life-changing complications after mesh surgery.
"Women who have undergone the surgery invariably say they were advised that this was a simple operation, with little accompanying risk. But for too many, mesh implants have been the cause of chronic and debilitating pain. This issue must be more widely known and discussed."
The Pontypridd MP was unsuccessful in having the issue debated in the House of Commons prior to the summer recess, and has said that he will attempt to bring it up again once proceedings resume in September.
Jackie Harvey, who had a mesh implant in 2005 and had it removed last year, is one of the women involved in bringing the campaign forward.
Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, she said that after undergoing a TVT mesh procedure she eventually developed "chronic pain in my pelvic area, in my hips, my groin, my lower back and my thighs. I would never have been told of any side effect".
Between 2007/08 and 2015/16 a total of 5,575 of the mesh implants were carried out in Northern Ireland.
Belfast Telegraph Digital
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/vaginal-mesh-implant-campaign-being-brought-to-westminster-35942628.html
-
Jul 18, 2017 | Cambs Times
By John Elworthy
More than 80 women and their families from across Britain are travelling to Parliament today (Tuesday 18) to urge for a suspension of what they say is a high risk women’s operation thanks to a campaign spearheaded by a journalist from our newspaper group.
They have also been called like “skewering women with kebab sticks,” by a surgeon at a conference who said he was “frightened” of using two types of mesh implant.
Mums who have suffered serious life changing pelvic floor injuries and long term chronic pain as a result of what is called a minor procedure to treat problems often caused by childbirth, got together thanks to support group Sling The Mesh launched by Kath Sansom in June 2015.
It has been called the biggest women’s health scandal since the morning sickness drug Thalidomide that left babies born with deformed limbs in the 60s and 70s
Owen Smith MP, shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said: “I am deeply concerned that so many women have experienced profound, life changing complications after mesh surgery.
“Women who have undergone the surgery invariably say they were advised that this was a simple operation, with little accompanying risk. But for too many, mesh implants have been the cause of chronic and debilitating pain. This issue must be more widely known and discussed.
“We need answers about the proportion of women adversely affected by vaginal mesh and the safety of the products concerned.
“I believe there is a strong case for suspending the use of this mesh, to treat stress incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse until those answers have been provided.’
Joining him is retired surgeon John Osborne, who predicted a disaster with meshes well over a decade ago, England’s top mesh removal surgeon Suzy Elneil and Sling the Mesh campaigner Kath Sansom, whose support group has over 2,200 members.
Miss Elneil, who has women travelling from Australia, China, the Middle East, North Africa as well as from all over the UK and Ireland to get their mesh removed, said when she saw the procedure for the first time: “There is no doubt that we felt as if one was watching a car crash in slow motion taking place in the pelvis.
“It was blind in nature, and involved inserting a piece of polypropylene or plastic using sharp large needles into a rather complex anatomical space.
“We suspected there would be many complications in the future,” she said.
Retired surgeon Mr Osborne said he predicted the mesh disaster, having seen problems of a trial sling, made of gauze, written about in 1968.
“At the time, it was hailed a big success,” he said. “But in reality, in clinic, we only saw the long-term suffering.”
When the TVT mesh slings, still used today, were launched around 1996, he said: “It rang alarm bells. I was anxious about history repeating itself. When I bought copies of these records to meetings in the 90’s and 2000’s, the reply was that the mesh was different and we need not worry about long term complications.”
More than 100,000 mesh tape implant surgeries have been carried out in the UK in the last decade.
Kath Sansom, founded the Sling the Mesh campaign after suffering debilitating pain following the TVT procedure which she had inserted and removed on the NHS. Kath has worked tirelessly for the past two years to bring awareness of the dangers of mesh implants and provide women with information about alternative methods to treat stress incontinence and prolapse.
Kath said: “I now have more than 2,200 members of Sling The Mesh. All of us who are suffering were told it was a simple 20 minute fix. What none of us were told were the devastating complications. There are women who now struggle to walk, are in constant pain, suffer infections, loss of sex life or worse mesh shrinking and cutting into bladders, bowels or slicing through vaginal walls.
“When it goes wrong it is catastrophic and even if women have the mesh removed, it is such major surgery, that the women never go back to what they once were. The mesh fixes problems of incontinence or prolapse but in its path can leave a trail of disaster that is much bigger.”
Sling The Mesh has launched a group action with London firm Wedlake and Bell with QC Elizabeth Ann Gumbel
Women concerned about their symptoms can get support and advice from the patient group Facebook page ‘Sling the Mesh’ or on Twitter @meshcampaign or https://slingthemesh.wordpress.com.
http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/news/big-day-for-women-s-health-campaign-that-began-its-roots-at-our-newspaper-office-in-march-sling-the-mesh-fight-goes-to-parliamentary-lobby-1-5110990
-
Weekly journalist takes fight to ban medical procedure to Westminster
Jul 19, 2017 | Hold The Front Page
By David Sharman
A regional journalist has taken her fight to ban an operation which left her a “physical wreck” to Westminster.
Kath Sansom, who works for weekly titles the Cambs Times, Wisbech Standard and Ely Standard, was joined by more than 80 women and their families from across the country in a bid to urge Parliament for a suspension of mesh implant operations.
Kath launched her Sling The Mesh drive after she underwent an operation to have what is known as a TVT mesh sling for bladder problems, following childbirth.
Campaigners says they have suffered serious life changing pelvic floor injuries and long term chronic pain as a result of what is described as a minor procedure.
Said Kath: “I now have more than 2,200 members of Sling The Mesh. All of us who are suffering were told it was a simple 20 minute fix. What none of us were told were the devastating complications.
“There are women who now struggle to walk, are in constant pain, suffer infections, loss of sex life or worse mesh shrinking and cutting into bladders, bowels or slicing through vaginal walls.
“When it goes wrong it is catastrophic and even if women have the mesh removed, it is such major surgery, that the women never go back to what they once were. The mesh fixes problems of incontinence or prolapse but in its path can leave a trail of disaster that is much bigger.”
Supporters of Sling The Mesh include shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Smith and retired surgeon John Osborne, as well as her colleagues at the Times and Standards.
Kath’s editor John Elworthy said: “I have watched with astonishment and enormous pride this campaign take shape. If you’d seen Kath’s battle with her own fight to get the mesh removed, you’d have an understanding of the agony and debilitating effect of when a medical procedure goes wrong.
“Keeping up with Kath on her campaign work has been easy – every time you hear a keyboard being typed furiously at the other end of the room you sense she’s working on the social media campaign to hammer home the message.
“Her capacity to combine her work for us and to run what has become a fast growing national campaign is both extraordinary and exhilarating.
“I have been privileged to work over many years with campaigning and spirited journalists but rarely have I encountered anyone with such determined application, a great sense of humour, and more than a dash of self deprecation.”
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/weekly-journalist-takes-fight-to-ban-medical-procedure-to-westminster/
-
A Senate inquiry on pelvic mesh hears mesh victims have been treated like child sexual abuse victims
Jul 19, 2017 | Newcastle Herlad
By Joanne McCarthy
THE pelvic mesh scandal that has left an unknown number of Australian women with serious, permanent injuries has exposed a health system “asleep at the wheel while this tragedy has unfolded”, a leading consumer health group has told a Senate inquiry into mesh.
The health system silences and blames victims, similar to the treatment of institutional child sexual abuse victims, Victoria’s Health Issues Centre chief executive Danny Vadasz said in a submission to the inquiry which holds its first hearing in Melbourne on August 3.
“The Senate inquiry has limited itself by just looking at certain aspects of this tragedy but I have already suggested a Royal Commission is necessary,” he told the Newcastle Herald on Wednesday.
In a scathing submission after more than 2200 women – including many from the Hunter region – responded to a centre survey, Mr Vadasz said the mesh scandal exposes how the burden of proof and responsibility for raising serious health issues is left with “the people who’ve suffered in the first place”, while regulators often remain in denial.
The abuses of power, the shifting of responsibility to victims, and a system that leaves victims to fight the medical industry largely on their own when things go wrong, provide clear comparisons with the treatment of institutional child sexual abuse victims, Mr Vadasz said.
The Senate inquiry has limited itself by just looking at certain aspects of this tragedy but I have already suggested a Royal Commission is necessary.- Health Issues Centre chief executive Danny Vadasz.
The mesh scandal exposes “the systemic failure of the regulatory institutions and processes established to guarantee the safety and quality of health care in Australia”, he said.
“This whole of system failure implicates Commonwealth and State health authorities, their instruments, and in particular the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the various state and federal complaints commissions, a large number of surgeons and GPs conducting or referring mesh implant surgery, and the various specialist colleges and professional associations that represent them.
“These stakeholders have all been asleep at the wheel while this tragedy has unfolded.”
Mr Vadasz said regulators had chosen “denial rather than acknowledge system failure”.
It was not unreasonable to describe the health system’s handling of mesh as a “catastrophic failure” because regulators had failed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mesh devices, failed to establish a comprehensive register of mesh products, failed to establish an adverse reporting system that accurately represented women’s injuries, failed to enforce the need for informed consent by women patients, failed to adopt a patient-centred response when women victims sought help, and failed to apply precautionary principles in the face of mounting evidence of adverse outcomes, Mr Vadasz said.
He told the Senate inquiry that the framing of debate about mesh once problems were raised in public showed the health system was still failing patients.
”Much of the debate about the severity of this problem has been framed in terms of the good outcomes of the many outweighing the unfortunate experiences of a few,” Mr Vadasz said.
“Health spokespeople continue to refer to transvaginal mesh as the ‘gold standard’ in dealing with incontinence and prolapse, but our health system is built on values such as equity and a universal duty of care, not on a cost/benefit analysis that accepts the unavoidability of collateral damage.”
Mr Vadasz said the women’s experiences of mesh presented in the Health Issues Centre submission was to remind governments, departments, regulators and the health industry of “the human dimensions of this tragedy”.
“It’s to ensure that our sense of humanity is not subordinated to a statistical dispute over acceptable failure rates,” he said.
Mr Vadasz said many of the women victims had been characterised as outliers who were unrepresentative of the silent majority. Many were left doubting their own lived experience.
He said mesh injuries had been “dramatically under-reported” because many surgeons refused to validate complaints of adverse outcomes reported by women patients.
“To build an effective safety regime we must firstly admit that our current system has failed us. It is only by acknowledging that this crisis evaded all radar detection that we can begin the task of rebuilding a safety regime that acts decisively with foresight rather justifies its inaction in hindsight,” he said.
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4800043/health-system-asleep-at-the-wheel-on-mesh/
-
Newcastle business owner says 2005 mesh surgery left her with many unknowns
Jul 19, 2017 | Newcastle Herlad
By Joanne McCarthy
ROBYN Ramster is 63, a Wickham business owner and a woman who has lived with the consequences of pelvic mesh surgery in 2005 – including an operation last week which a doctor described as “scraping the mesh off your bladder”.
For a decade she has lived with chronic urinary tract infections linked to how the mesh has constricted and contorted her bladder. She has repeatedly asked doctors if the infections might be linked to the 2005 surgery with a Johnson & Johnson mesh tape for incontinence.
The responses have been the same. Because the mesh was known to have worked so well for so many women, that couldn’t be the reason, she was told.
“I was going to doctors to get antibiotics. I went to any doctor I could walk straight into after work, for years. But no one mentioned the mesh. No one tried to find out why I had these infections all the time, for all these years,” Mrs Ramster said.
“I kept telling myself, I’m all right. There was always discomfort, but you sort of get used to it.”
Then she reached a point where chronic infections, low-level pain, years of antibiotics and trying to run a business and maintain the appearance of living a normal life took its toll.
The surgeon last week removed the mesh that he could, but an unknown amount remains in her body, and recovering from the operation has been much harder than she had hoped.
“I just feel like I could sleep for the next three weeks and hopefully, I’ll wake up and feel better,” she said.
Mrs Ramster trusted the Hunter specialist who implanted the mesh in 2005.
“I remember being told the tape was just this beaut new thing. ‘Just wait for a phone call and we’ll slot you in’. It sounded really good, and I’m no doctor. You trust the doctor who’s telling you they can fix your problems.”
A Senate inquiry established in February after a campaign by women implanted with mesh is expected to hear of difficulties faced by patients when they try to investigate a doctor’s history, including settlements after patient injury claims.
The inquiry is also expected to hear of the limitations of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency in providing patients with information about the doctors treating them.
Mrs Ramster, like many other Australian women, was horrified to read about the experiences of women who had had mesh surgery, but also relieved.
“It was like a light went on because what they were saying was what I’ve experienced all these years.”
She tries not to worry about the future but “I don’t know what other complications I’ll have. None of us know.”
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4798135/the-mesh-the-legacy-and-future-unknowns/
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
Online Sources
Add recipients
Suggested