C.R. Bard, a medical technologies developer, manufacturer and marketer commonly referred to simply as Bard, has reached a settlement in the second lawsuit trial of the multidistrict litigation for its transvaginal mesh product. The amount of this second settlement has not been made public.
Bard agreed to settle the claims made by Wanda Queen of North Carolina, who stated that Bard’s Avaulta-branded vaginal mesh device caused her severe pain and forced her to undergo six surgeries.
The announcement comes approximately one week after a federal jury found Bard had failed to warn consumers of the potential health hazards associated with its transvaginal mesh product and awarded $2 million in damages to a Georgia woman. According to court records, the product was also the Avaulta-branded vaginal mesh device.
Thousands of other similar transvaginal mesh claims against Bard are currently pending. Results of these trials could indicate positive potential for other claimants injured by Bard’s transvaginal mesh product.
Transvaginal mesh has been associated with many harmful health complications. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued Public Health Notifications about the serious complications and side effects linked to surgical mesh.
Specifically, the FDA has stated that serious complications associated with the use of transvaginal mesh for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) are common. The FDA has pointed out that it is not proven that using transvaginal mesh for POP is more effective than using non-mesh repair in patients with POP. For this reason, using transvaginal mesh may actually expose patients to greater risk of health problems.1
Serious complications linked to transvaginal mesh include:
- Erosion through vaginal epithelium
- Infection
- Pain
- Urinary problems
- Recurrence of prolapse and/or incontinence
- Bowel, bladder and blood vessel perforation during insertion
- Vaginal scarring
- Mesh erosion causing discomfort, pain and/or dyspareunia
1 http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm262435.htm
