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Ethicon Media Monitoring 5/15/2018
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Reactions to 60 Minutes Story on Mesh Mess
May 14, 2018 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
By Jane Akre
Not surprisingly, Boston Scientific is reacting negatively to the story that 60 Minutes aired last night on its substandard polypropylene resin-based mesh and the internal documents that show the questionable way it sourced that mesh from China. -
Investigation Reveals Alleged Horrors of Gynecological Mesh
May 15, 2018 | Newser
By Evann Gastaldo
More than 100,000 women are suing over a surgical device that was implanted in their bodies and then, they say, turned into a horror show: gynecological mesh. -
Minister and CMO to meet pelvic mesh ban lobbyists
May 14, 2018 | Irish Medical Times
By Valerie Ryan
Solicitor Melanie Power is asking that the pelvic mesh be suspended pending a full audit of all women implanted with the device -
Revealed: The five main reasons women don't enjoy sex - and what you can do to make lovemaking pleasurable again
May 14, 2018 | Daily Mail
By Sheree Mutton
Many women suffer pain during intercourse, which can make sex unenjoyable.
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Reactions to 60 Minutes Story on Mesh Mess
May 14, 2018 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
By Jane Akre
Not surprisingly, Boston Scientific is reacting negatively to the story that 60 Minutes aired last night on its substandard polypropylene resin-based mesh and the internal documents that show the questionable way it sourced that mesh from China.
The piece concluded with the evidence that the network acquired Boston Scientific mesh kits currently on the market and they all matched the China-sourced mesh. The company had purchased enough raw material from China to supply gynecological mesh production for the next 30 years.
REACTIONS AND RESPONSES
Sunday night on 60 Minutes, Boston Scientific ‘s acquisition of gynecological mesh resin, allegedly smuggled in from China and of questionable quality, was broadcast on the esteemed newsmagazine 60 Minutes.
The story brought to the forefront, the use of polypropylene mesh, which is the primary ingredient in all pelvic, hernia or gynecological mesh, not just those made by Boston Scientific.
Johnson & Johnson, American Medical Systems (Endo), C.R. Bard, Coloplast, all use polypropylene (PP) resin to make their gynecological mesh implants for incontinence and prolapse.
Doctors even today are still using polypropylene mesh and the medical society AUGS (American Urogynecological Society) even refers to a PP mesh sling as the “gold standard.”
This story serves as a wake-up call to women everywhere who are being told “the mesh today is different,” which is today the talking point doctors use to talk women into have a mesh implant.
Duane Priddy: I can’t, in my wildest imagination, imagine anybody that’s knowledgeable in the science of plastics ever deciding that it was appropriate to use polypropylene in the human body. It’s well known that it’s oxidatively unstable.
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC REACTS
Boston Scientific denied 60 Minutes an interview for the segment, but did issue a statement on its website. See it here.
It calls the report “irresponsible and misleading” and one-sided and “out of context.”
Calling the 60 Minutes piece “completely false claims” based on ”outdated and previously disproven allegations first made by attorneys in 2016.”
The company insists it uses rigorous testing to show its resin matches “a formulation from the original U.S.-produced resin.”
Ironically, Boston Scientific uses the argument that polypropylene mesh has been used for more than 50 years in hernia repair. Mesh News Desk readers include a large number of patients who are also suffering after their polypropylene hernia mesh implant, estimated to be about 30% of patients implanted.
Boston Scientific says its mesh products contribute only one percent of annual sales to the company. To withdraw it from the market would leave women with “few options for these debilitating and often embarrassing conditions.”
AUGS the American Urogynecologic Society issued a statement prior to the airing of the 60 Minutes story (see it here) that does not address the issue of polypropylene, which it promotes as the “gold standard” but does point readers to a recent New York Times piece on the allegedly unnecessary surgeries some women are encouraged to undergo allegedly for profit.
The medical society expresses concern that the public will react with “another layer of anxiety,” after viewing the 60 Minutes segment
https://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/reactions-to-60-minutes-story-on-mesh-mess/
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Investigation Reveals Alleged Horrors of Gynecological Mesh
May 15, 2018 | Newser
By Evann Gastaldo
More than 100,000 women are suing over a surgical device that was implanted in their bodies and then, they say, turned into a horror show: gynecological mesh. The strip of plastic mesh is used to help with urinary incontinence and to lift organs that shift post-pregnancy, and it's meant to remain in place for life. But doctors who have removed the mesh from women's bodies tell CBS News the devices come out shrunken and contracted, and experts say that the type of plastic used, polypropylene, disintegrates over time. Boston Scientific, which makes the mesh, originally got its plastic (called Marlex) from a subsidiary of Chevron Phillips, but after Chevron Phillips became concerned about implanting Marlex in the human body, it stopped selling it to Boston Scientific in 2005. Boston Scientific ultimately turned to China for a replacement—and a plastic expert tells CBS it is even worse than the one originally used.
Though evidence mounted that the product from China was a counterfeit version of Marlex, with testing showing it was different from the original version used, Boston Scientific officially concluded it was the same material and started using it. Experts who looked at the Chinese product say they would only expect it to last inside the body a few months, not permanently. And women who spoke to CBS News report horrifying experiences with the mesh, with one saying she could no longer feel when her bladder was full and often had blood in her urine and another saying it felt like there was a cheese grater inside her body. Experts say the supply chain of the plastic is not clear and that the lack of documentation and testing on the product is a huge concern: "Implantation of this into anyone is human experimentation but without consent," says one surgeon. Read the full investigation here.
http://www.newser.com/story/259207/a-cheese-grater-inside-me-100k-women-sue-over-gynecological-mesh.html
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Minister and CMO to meet pelvic mesh ban lobbyists
May 14, 2018 | Irish Medical Times
By Valerie Ryan
Solicitor Melanie Power is asking that the pelvic mesh be suspended pending a full audit of all women implanted with the device
The Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) are set to meet this Thursday with a medical negligence solicitor, who has been spearheading a national campaign to ban the use of pelvic mesh in Ireland.
Solicitor Melanie Power is asking that this device be suspended pending a full audit of all women implanted with the device. Many of the women are diagnosed with “unexplained pelvic pain” and are told to “manage their pain” with a cocktail of heavy medication including opiates.
The Minister Simon Harris and CMO Dr Tony Holahan will meet with her and three members of the campaign group ‘Mesh Survivors Ireland’ at Leinster House, Dublin. A rally will take place outside Leinster House to give a voice to those suffering.
Many of the women have said they were never told that if they suffer complications with the device, it cannot be fully removed in Ireland as tissues, and organ grow into the device. If they had known there was a risk of chronic pain, organ damage and damage that could not be dealt within the Irish Healthcare system, they would never have gone ahead with the procedure, they said.
They said a recent National Health Service audit of women implanted with the device showed that in the eight years following insertion of the device: 40 per cent needed treatment for trauma and orthopaedics, 50 per cent needed treatment for gynaecological complications and 10 per cent required treatment for pain management. For many women, in the years following the procedure, they were problem free. It can take up to 15 years for the debilitating problems to start.
Health Service Executive figures show that thousands of these devices have been implanted in Irish women. Worryingly, the campaign group claims, the mesh is not detectable by any scanning device currently available in this country.
Women have travelled to the United Kingdom paying privately for a scan which can clearly show the mesh and has confirmed that their pain is real. Power questions why is such a risky permanent device so widely in use when we have no ability to provide adequate after-care for complications. With the current state of services, she said, consultants in Ireland cannot even see the device in most cases until the damage has already been done.
Power commented: “The majority of these devices were not tested on humans before gaining access to the market here. We have allowed 20 years of treating Irish woman as guinea pigs but no one has collected data on the outcome. We need to stop and take stock of the evidence base of what damage this device has caused. Once this information is available, the Government can make an informed decision on whether to ban this device completely from the Irish healthcare setting. The device has to be suspended until this happens. Traditional surgery is an option in the meantime.”
https://www.imt.ie/news/minister-cmo-meet-pelvic-mesh-ban-lobbyists-14-05-2018/
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May 14, 2018 | Daily Mail
By Sheree Mutton
Many women suffer pain during intercourse, which can make sex unenjoyable.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5729587/The-five-main-reasons-women-dont-enjoy-sex-it.html
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