Seattle, WADebbie says that her engagement is off because of her American Medical Systems (AMS) transvaginal mesh implant. “I haven’t been able to have sexual activity with my fiancé without both of us experiencing pain and I don’t blame him for breaking off our engagement,” she says.
Debbie (not her real name) had the AMS transvaginal mesh implanted to treat urinary incontinence. But that has now become the least of her problems. “For the past year or so, I’ve had chronic pelvic pain, which is getting worse, and recurring bladder infections,” she adds. “Because of the inability to have sexual intimacy with my fiancé, I am also suffering from depression and weight gain - this transvaginal mesh has caused my life to become a physical and psychological downward spiral.
“Not only is my overall health suffering, but I am also in financial straights due to all the time I have missed from work, getting tests and lab work and trying to find a doctor to take out this mesh - I don’t think that my doctor knows what to do.”
Debbie knows the mesh has to be removed but at the same time she is frightened at the thought of more surgery.
In March 2013, a New Jersey Superior Court jury awarded Linda Gross, a registered nurse, and her husband, Jeff Gross, $11.1 million in compensatory and punitive damages ($7.76 million in punitive damages) in the first transvaginal mesh trial in the country. (In re Pelvic Mesh/Gynecare Litigation, Master Docket No.: ATL-6341-10, Case No. 291.) At the six-week trial, Ms. Gross, age 47, testified that she had 18 subsequent unsuccessful revision procedures following her initial transvaginal mesh surgery.
Ms Gross said that the transvaginal mesh had made her life after surgery a “living hell,” and she has characterized herself and thousands of other women who were implanted with TVM as “guinea pigs” to the vaginal mesh manufacturers. Her attorneys argued that Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon deserved to be held financially responsible to the fullest extent of the law for their actions. The jury agreed, and found that the gigantic drugmaker failed to provide adequate warnings. Further, they determined that the TVM maker intentionally committed fraud against Linda Gross regarding the transvaginal mesh.
An American Medical Systems TVM lawsuit was filed on January 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Charleston Division (Case No. 2:13-cv-01083). This suit is just one of a multitude of lawsuits pending in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) entitled In Re: American Medical Systems, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2325).
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