A recent $5 million-plus transvaginal mesh settlement against C.R. Bard could mean serious financial concerns for American Medical Systems (AMS), which is facing thousands of lawsuits, and financial hope for AMS victims—many of whom will continually face physical problems.
At the beginning of August 2012, two lawsuits were filed in two separate states against for AMS. Both plaintiffs claimed their injuries were a direct result of the transvaginal mesh products. One Florida woman claimed she suffered both physically and mentally. The mesh has caused permanent injury and physical deformity, she required corrective surgery (and will need more surgeries), and she has suffered financial loss.
The lawsuit claims that AMS underreported and withheld information about the dangers of their pelvic mesh product, and intentionally misled the Food and Drug Administration, the medical community, patients and the public at large about the problems associated with the product, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Penny (not her real name) has lived with pain and worsened Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) problems since she had the AMS SPARC sling procedure. “In 2006 I was experiencing SUI and my gynecologist suggested that a urologist perform the AMS SPARC sling procedure at the same time as he would perform a hysterectomy,” says Penny.
“At first, everything seemed okay, but as time has gone by, it got worse. I have blood in my urine, a foul vaginal discharge, foul smelling urine and I grow tired and weak easily. My white blood count is elevated, and intercourse is next to impossible due to the excruciating pain. It feels like my pelvic bone is going to just explode! I have constant urinary urgency, but can never seem to empty my bladder, even though I pee over 25 times a day and throughout the entire night. And I have difficulty walking any distance due to pain.”
Adding insult to injury, Penny’s family doctor says that her symptoms are “probably just osteoarthritis", and she referred her to a rheumatologist who diagnosed her with fibromyalgia. But she has just received some referrals from urology surgeons who may relate her symptoms to the transvaginal mesh.
“Blood tests show that my white blood cells are elevated and that can cause the weakness, however, there is blood in my urine,” Penny adds. I just had a colonoscopy, and it checked out okay. I can never sleep more than a few hours a night consecutively, due to pain in my urethra and especially in my pelvic area. I am certain that the pelvic bladder sling is what is causing such terrible pain. There is no other explanation for it, and no, it is not fibromyalgia.”
Penny is experiencing symptoms similar to thousands of women who were implanted with transvaginal mesh sling or the AMS sling and are now suffering from transvaginal mesh erosion.