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Ethicon Media Monitoring 3/9/2018
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Ethicon Denied Challenge to Hrymoc Pelvic Mesh Verdict
Mar 8, 2018 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
Ethicon had challenged the latest pelvic mesh verdict of $15 million awarded to Elizabeth Hrymoc who said the company made a defective pelvic mesh and failed to warn about its dangers. -
This Government Is Breaking Down Barriers On Women's Health
Mar 8, 2018 | Huff Post UK
By Maria Caulfield
This year marks the centenary of some women getting the right to vote and I am proud to have been elected as the 419th female MP. -
Meet the matchstick women — the hidden victims of the industrial revolution
Mar 9, 2018 | The Conversation
... Women in their defiance, continue to challenge health inequality and those who seek to oppress and exploit them not only nationally, but also globally. Women in their droves are standing up for other women – as can be seen in the recent outcry across the world over vaginal mesh implants. Women are no longer willing to accept poor health outcomes as an inevitability of their oppressed lives.
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Ethicon Denied Challenge to Hrymoc Pelvic Mesh Verdict
Mar 8, 2018 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
Mesh Medical Device News Desk, March 8, 2018 ~ Ethicon had challenged the latest pelvic mesh verdict of $15 million awarded to Elizabeth Hrymoc who said the company made a defective pelvic mesh and failed to warn about its dangers.
But the Hrymoc case has survived the latest challenge by the health care giant.
Ethicon, a division of J&J, is the last company to settle its roster of thousands of product liability cases, instead vowing to fight them all in court.
Ethicon wanted to overturn the $15 million verdict in favor of mesh-injured Elizabeth Hrymoc.
The 71-year-old was awarded that amount by a New Jersey jury last November after a 17-day trial.
Adam Slater represented Ms. Hrymoc who sat in the courtroom alongside her husband, Thad. She alleged the Prolift mesh and TVT-O devices implanted in her were defective and the company failed to warn about the risks. She continues to suffer from pain, vaginal erosion and dyspareunia. See MND coverage here.
The $15 million verdict included $10 million for punitive damages, intended to punish Ethicon for its behavior. Ethicon is the medical device division of Johnson & Johnson. The jury of ten found a wanton disregard for patient health and that Ethicon displayed a malicious intent. MNDcoverage here.
Ethicon immediately appealed.
On Monday, March 5, Judge Rachelle Lea Harz of Bergen Co. Superior Court, denied the motion to reverse the verdict. Ethicon also asked for a new trial which was denied.
Judge Harz, who is overseeing hundreds of pending mesh cases, said Ethicon failed to warn about the risks of its medical devices.
Ethicon faces more product liability cases than any other mesh manufacturer in the West Virginia court, which has consolidated more than 104,000 cases. It is the last manufacturer to offer global settlements and instead has vowed to fight every case in court.
To date, Ethicon has won only three cases (Lewis, Cavness, Atkins, though Atkins will receive a new hearing).
The next mesh case in this courtroom will be McGinnis v. Ethicon, March 19. Mr. Slater again will represent the plaintiff.
Ethicon has lost 11 cases before juries in three venues, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Charleston, WV, the Hrymoc case among them. (Use the Search Bar to see Gross, Batiste, Huskey, Budke, Perry, Hammons, Carlino, Engleman, Belz, Ebaugh). See MND on trial tally so far here.
Ethicon has offered individual settlement with plaintiffs, as much as $5 million in Wicker v Ethicon.
The case is Elizabeth Hrymoc v Ethicon, Case No. L-13696-14, heard in New Jersey Superior Court, Bergen Co. NJ, before the Honorable Rachelle Harz. ###
https://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/ethicon-denied-challenge-hrymoc-pelvic-mesh-verdict/
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This Government Is Breaking Down Barriers On Women's Health
Mar 8, 2018 | Huff Post UK
By Maria Caulfield
But there are still difficult conversations that we need to have and that we continue to encourage women to talk to their friends, mothers and daughters about their health
This year marks the centenary of some women getting the right to vote and I am proud to have been elected as the 419th female MP.
Before entering Parliament, I worked as a full time cancer research nurse at the Royal Marsden Hospital for over 20 years, specialising in the field of breast cancer research. My mother was also a nurse and improving our health service has always been an issue close to my heart and is what motivated me to become an MP and add my voice to those that could instil change.
I care passionately about healthcare, and I am proud of what this Government has done for female healthcare, bringing to the forefront some health issues that have often been stigmatised and people have shied away from discussing.
We are visibly moving the dial and breaking down barriers. Earlier this year, I was happy to hear the Prime Minister speaking at Prime Ministers Questions encouraging young girls not to put off going for a smear test. It is through these open and public discussions that young girls and women can have the confidence and tools to talk about their health. Cancer has touched most people’s lives in some way or another and almost everyone has sadly been saddled with this disease- whether themselves or watching a loved one suffer.
We know that smear tests prevent 75% of cervical cancers, so the fact that so many young women are missing these appointments is highly concerning. If we can prevent diseases in the first place, and intervene at the earliest possible stage, then the NHS can focus on what it does best: treating people who are sick. This government is working to help young women take responsibility for their health, and we have provided a roll out of the National Cervical Screening programme for all women between 25 and 64 years, with all girls having the opportunity to get the HPV vaccine free from the NHS from age 12 to 18. HPV will be the primary screen test for women from 2019 and this change will see more cancers being prevented and fewer women needing further tests and treatment.
Similarly, having heard harrowing tales from a number of my constituents, describing their experiences of vaginal mesh implants and the pain that they now sadly find themselves in, I welcomed the news that a review will be carried out into the use of vaginal mesh implants, as well as the use of pregnancy test drug Primodos and epilepsy drug sodium valproate. It was vital that we addressed this issue with so many women suffering after undergoing a procedure that was supposed to improve their quality of life. This is why I am proud to be a female MP and to help champion these campaigns to work to better the lives of women and girls.
And it’s not just domestically that the UK has been improving women’s health. Five years ago the UK Department for International Development committed to spend £35million towards ending Female Genital Mutilation in a generation, more than any other country. In doing so, we have shifted the global conversation around FGM and brought us close to seeing an end to this extreme violation. Thanks to the work of this government, and campaigners here in the UK, the issue has climbed the political and news agenda. We have seen FGM laws being strengthened in the UK so that it is no longer simply illegal to practice FGM in the UK, it is illegal to take a child abroad in order to subject her to FGM elsewhere. These are huge developments and shows that as a society our care for women’s health stretches beyond our own borders, we truly want to better the lives of girls and women around the world.
Today, on International Women’s Day it is a chance for us to reflect back and champion the great things that this government has done for women’s health, but also acknowledge that there are still difficult conversations that we need to have and that we continue to encourage women to talk to their friends, mothers and daughters about their health.
Maria Caulfield is the Conservative MP for Lewes and party vice chair for women
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/women-health_uk_5aa10f05e4b0e9381c15a133
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Meet the matchstick women — the hidden victims of the industrial revolution
Mar 9, 2018 | The Conversation
The story of the British matchstick girls who in 1888 took strike action against the dominating, patriarchal world of matchstick making isn’t well known.
But these were the women who worked 14 hours a day in the East End of London and who were exposed to deadly phosphorous vapours on a daily basis.
Working with white phosphorous – which was added to the tips of matches to enable a “strike anywhere effect” – was highly toxic and responsible for the devastating disease known as “phossy jaw”. This nickname was given by the match makers to the particularly nasty condition “phosphorous necrosis of the jaw”. The effect literally causing the jaw bone to rot.
Doctors soon began treating these women for the disease – which would often spread to the brain leading to a particularly painful and horrific death, unless the jaw was removed. And even then a prolonged life was not guaranteed.
But even though the risks were obvious, this was the Industrial Revolution – before employers were legally required to create safe working conditions. This meant that women on low wages continued to work long hours, while exposed to the toxic impact of white phosphorous and the devastating consequences this would have on their health.
Women’s rights
Many of these women were working at Bryant and May (which is unrelated to the current Bryant and May, which also makes matches) and were Irish immigrants. They lived in abject poverty, in filthy housing unfit for human habitation and were often subject to prolonged hours of backbreaking work making matches. But despite the incessant exploitation, the low pay and excessive fines issued simply for being late, dropping a match or talking to others, the workers were forced to continue to work in these oppressive conditions. Times, however, were changing.
Annie Besant, a well known socialist exposed the conditions within the factory in her article White Slavery in London. This infuriated the factory owners and they attempted to force the workers to sign a paper stating that they were happy with their working lives. The women refused to do this and following the sacking of one of their own, they decided to take action. By the end of the day, 1,400 women and girls were out on strike.
Ultimately, the matchstick girls saw all their demands achieved. Disappointingly, though, it wasn’t until 1906 – almost 20 years later – that white phosphorous was made illegal in the use of matchsticks. This eventually eliminated the disease in the UK. Similarly, in the US, the government chose to place a “punitive tax” on white phosphorus matches. And the tax was so high it made manufacturing them unrealistic.Modern medicines
“Phossy jaw” was thought to have been eliminated through modern day working practices, but in a twist of fate, contemporary medicine has actually resurrected this disease. A group of drugs known as Bisphosphonates, commonly used in cancer treatment and to reduce the impact of bone thinning, has the potential to cause deterioration of the jaw.
With good oral care and dentistry, regular checks and antibiotic therapy, the risk is relatively low and treatment less radical. But it shows how the development of new and innovative ways of treating medical conditions – that improve and prolong life – can inadvertently create other problems.
The story of the plight of the matchstick girls and many women like them tells of the social injustices that prevailed throughout history. But disappointingly, such suffering continues to exist in society today.
Research shows hospital staff still continue to take women’s pain less seriously, compared with men’s pain. And that less time is spent treating women – who are more likely to be wrongly diagnosed.
Women in their defiance, continue to challenge health inequality and those who seek to oppress and exploit them not only nationally, but also globally. Women in their droves are standing up for other women – as can be seen in the recent outcry across the world over vaginal mesh implants. Women are no longer willing to accept poor health outcomes as an inevitability of their oppressed lives.
Today, we must continue to promote gender equality if our children and grandchildren are to have lives that are fulfilled and rewarding. To do this, we need to be as strong and courageous as the matchstick women to take action against the oppressive structures that continue to exist within a patriarchal society.
https://theconversation.com/meet-the-matchstick-women-the-hidden-victims-of-the-industrial-revolution-87453
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