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Cook Group Scores Win In Pelvic Mesh Suit
Jun 5, 2015 | Law360
By Jody Godoy
...Cook Group has contended that its products are “dramatically different” from the mesh products at issue in other MDLs against Endo International PLC, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Inc. and others as they are not synthetic mesh but made from tissue found in pig intestines... -
Mesh surgery scandal: Implants at centre of $100m US compensation case used by Scottish NHS boards
Jun 7, 2015 | Daily Record and Sunday Mail
By Marion Scott
MESH implants at the centre of a £100million compensation payout in America have been used in operations by more than half of Scottish NHS boards. -
Sling the Mesh: Our reporter Kath launches campaign to stop the operation that’s ruining women’s lives
Jun 5, 2015 | Wisbech Standard
By Kath Sasom
Our reporter Kath Sansom has launched a campaign against a gynaecology operation that she says is ruining women’s lives.
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Cook Group Scores Win In Pelvic Mesh Suit
Jun 5, 2015 | Law360
By Jody Godoy
A West Virginia federal judge overseeing tens of thousands of pelvic mesh suits in multidistrict litigation tossed a single-plaintiff suit against Cook Group Inc. on Thursday, saying it lacked a doctor's testimony of injury as required by Tennessee law.
U.S. District Judge Joseph R Goodwin handed summary judgment to Cook Inc., Cook Medical Inc. and Cook Biotech Inc. saying that though plaintiff Charlotte Dewene Ward had filed statements by medical experts about the general risks of the company's pelvic implants, that was not enough to satisfy Tennessee law requiring causation in medical matters to be shown via expert testimony.
Ward said in her 2013 suit that she was implanted in 2009 with the companies' Stratasis urethral sling to treat urinary incontinence. She claimed the implant caused injuries requiring corrective surgery and sued for negligence, strict liability, fraud, breach of warranty and other claims.
Judge Goodwin oversees seven MDLs that include about 70,000 cases, including approximately 400 suits against Cook Group over the company's implant products.
The ruling came after attorneys at Aylstock Witkin Kreis and Overholtz PLLC, Branstetter Stranch & Jennings LLC and Childers Schlueter & Smith LLC, who represented the plaintiff, sought to withdraw from the case saying they had “come to an impasse” with Ward.
In early May, Cook Group asked Judge Goodwin to sanction plaintiffs' attorneys in the MDL, claiming they were seeking to withdraw from weak cases and stymied the MDL process by having their clients' cases dismissed, including the six chosen as bellwether cases.
The judge denied that request and instead decided to reform the case management structure to deal with the cases in waves. The defendants asked for reconsideration of their sanctions motion on Tuesday.
Cook Group has contended that its products are “dramatically different” from the mesh products at issue in other MDLs against Endo International PLC, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Inc. and others as they are not synthetic mesh but made from tissue found in pig intestines.
C.R. Bard Inc., a defendant in another MDL over pelvic mesh products, is currently fighting a $2 million jury verdict in the Fourth Circuit.
Counsel for the parties did not reply to requests for comment Friday.
The plaintiff is represented by Bryan F. Aylstock of Aylstock Witkin Kreis and Overholtz PLC.
The defendants are represented by Douglas B. King, James M. Boyers and Jennifer L. Schuster of Wooden & McLaughlin LLP
The case is Ward v. Cook Incorporated et al., case number 2:13-cv-15879, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. -
Mesh surgery scandal: Implants at centre of $100m US compensation case used by Scottish NHS boards
Jun 7, 2015 | Daily Record and Sunday Mail
By Marion Scott
MESH implants at the centre of a £100million compensation payout in America have been used in operations by more than half of Scottish NHS boards.
Six out of Scotland’s 11 health boards used either Advantage Fit or Pinnacle implants manufactured by Boston Scientific.
The firm were ordered to pay record mesh compensation, equivalent to £65million, to victim Deborah Barba, 51, after a jury found the firm were negligent in the design of both devices.
The same implants have been used in hospitals in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Fife, Tayside, Dumfries, Lanarkshire and Forth Valley.
Women across Scotland were also given other implants responsible for massive injury settlements over treatment for bladder and pelvic organ prolapse.
Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: “Scottish women will be shocked to learn they may have been given implants involved in such huge settlements.
“The very least the Health Secretary must do is immediately ensure each and every woman treated with a mesh implant is checked and informed exactly which implant they have.
“This investigation has turned what was a scandal into a crisis, one which the Scottish Government must take action on to protect both patients and the future of our NHS.
“Case after case in the US has shown the steps manufacturers took to cover up the truth.
“They’ve not only devastated lives, they have left the NHS facing huge medical bills to treat victims as well as leaving it wide open to costly legal actions likely to carry on for decades to come.”
Sunday Mail dossier of failed tape and mesh implants
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “Health boards must now actively seek out women who have had mesh devices fitted to establish their true state of health.
“There was widespread concern when it transpired that many health boards had ignored the Scottish Government’s call for a moratorium on the fitting of mesh devices.
“It is now even more concerning to discover the huge compensation consequences emerging in the US as a result of the horrendous life experience of many women who have endured complications.”
Scottish Mesh Survivor spokeswoman Olive McIlroy, 57, from Renfrew, said: “This has confirmed our worst nightmares.”
Barba’s lawyer Fidelma Fitzpatrick, of US firm Motley Rice, said the decision taken in the state of Delaware gave a fresh voice to victims across the world.
She added: “The jury awarded $75million of Debbie’s claim in punitive damages, which reflects their anger over evidence we presented concerning fraudulent concealment.
“Boston Scientific hid what they knew about the dangers of their product.
“How many times must manufacturers be told they’re wrong before they take responsibility.”
Lawyer Fidelma Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick will present evidence at the powerful International Urogynecological Association conference in Nice
next week.The use of the devices was recorded before former Health Secretary Alex Neil suspended mesh procedures in Scotland a year ago following a campaign led by the Sunday Mail.
As well as the two devices at the centre of the Delaware award, other products found faulty in the US have been used here.
Hospitals in Glasgow, Fife and Tayside used the Obtryx device, also made by Boston Scientific. Hospitals in Lothian, Lanarkshire, Grampian, Fife, Tayside and Glasgowused Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon devices, including Prolift, TVT and TVT-O.
Prolift victim Linda Gross, 48, of South Dakota, was awarded a total of $11.1million in 2013, including $5million punitive damages. Johnson & Johnson, who face hundreds of cases, will appeal.
More than 400 Scottish women are taking legal action against the NHS and manufacturers over mesh devices.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said they will await the results of anindependent review into mesh implant safety.
She said:“This review will report in summer and will allow a thorough assessment of the evidence.
“It will provide a firm evidence base for any further action the Scottish Government may take.”
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Jun 5, 2015 | Wisbech Standard
By Kath Sasom
Our reporter Kath Sansom has launched a campaign against a gynaecology operation that she says is ruining women’s lives.
Sling The Mesh has been launched after she underwent an operation to have what is known as a TVT mesh sling for bladder problems.
Since having the procedure in March, she has gone from an active mother of two to someone who struggles with daily pain. More worrying, Kath has discovered it is a global problem.
Here, Kath explains the campaign’s objectives.
"I have gone from a super fit 47-year-old who did boxing training twice a week, high board diving, swimming, mountain biking and dancing at gigs, to a physical wreck who can just about walk my dog round the park."
Kath Sansom
I feel like the unwilling victim of a cruel experiment that has gone horribly wrong.
At times my body feels like it is full of cut glass, I have burning and shooting pains, and going up a few stairs makes my legs ache terribly. I also have unexplained rashes on my arms and neck and very sore skin on my face along with runny nose - like it has set off an allergic reaction.
I decided to have a TVT mesh bladder sling after suffering what many mums are left with after natural childbirth - stress urinary incontinence.Kath Sansom has launched a campaign against a gynaecology operation in which a TVT sling is used. Kath has been forced to give up boxing training following the operation. Picture: HELEN DRAKE
I was told it was a minimally invasive, relatively low risk operation taking half an hour, with about 13,000 operations carried out a year in the UK on the NHS.
However, I have since found out what I thought was a body-friendly sling is made from polypropylene plastic mesh – the same material used to make drinks bottles.
The tape can be put in too tight or positioned wrongly. The tape can twist or shrink, degrade and harbour bacteria. It can damage nerves during insertion, and the bladder can be perforated as this is a blind procedure.
I was not aware I may suffer leg and pelvic pains. I was not aware this was a permanent device.Campaign objectives
• Operation to be suspended
• If not suspended then a National Register should be launched to track future problems
• Life-changing risks to be fully explained to women
• Government to tighten up legislation on passing medical devices
I have gone from a super fit 47-year-old who did boxing training twice a week, high board diving, swimming, mountain biking and dancing at gigs, to a physical wreck who can just about walk my dog round the park.
If I walk too far (about 15 minutes), sit for too long or try to do too much, the pain kicks in.
Once inserted, the mesh takes about six weeks to knit into the tissues. After that, surgeons say that taking it out is like trying to get chewing gum out of matted hair.
My GP referred me straight away to one of only two surgeons in the UK who can successfully remove it, Natalia Price in Oxford or Sohier Elneil in London. I’m with Ms Price and am due to have the mesh removed in September.Kath Sansom has launched a campaign against a gynaecology operation in which a TVT sling is used. Kath is keeping a diary as part of her campaign.
As part of my research I have found numerous support groups, including Meshies United, TVT Mums and Scottish Mesh Survivors.
I have also discovered that, last year, this procedure was suspended in Scotland and some of the mesh devices de-registered in Australia.
I have spoken to women in wheelchairs and on crutches struggling to walk because of this operation. There are online support forums across the globe full of women suffering.
It has potentially life-changing disabling consequences. Some women live in pain for the rest of their lives.Get in touch
Have you suffered after a TVT operation? E-mail slingthemesh@gmail.com. Alternatively, search for Sling the Mesh on Facebook or follow@TVTCampaign on Twitter. For updates from the campaign, visit Kath’s blog atslingthemesh.wordpress.com
When it goes wrong it goes spectacularly wrong – and it is not a risk worth taking.
The Medical Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) says the benefits outweigh the risks – but I believe the catastrophic results that can occur make the operation one that should be suspended.
I want to make women aware of the potential consequence of this operation as I do not want anybody else suffering as I and thousands of others are.
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