Kugel Mesh Lawsuits Favor Plaintiffs

Dallas, TXA Texas woman filed a negligence lawsuit against the maker of Kugel Mesh, Davol Inc. and its parent company C.R. Bard Inc., in August 2011, claiming the defendants failed to adequately and properly test and inspect Kugel Mesh to determine whether it was safe.

Davol and Bard are also accused of failing to timely and adequately warn physicians after discovering the potential safety hazard and harm associated with the patches.

In July 2010, plaintiff Nancy Cotton was diagnosed with small bowel obstruction secondary to incarcerated recurrent ventral hernia with failed Composix Kugel Mesh Patch. Consequently, she required more surgeries, including exploratory laparotomy, resection of abdominal wall foreign body, extensive enterolysis and repair of recurrent ventral hernia. Cotton is seeking damages for medical expenses, loss of earnings, physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, medical losses and court costs.

Previous Kugel Mesh Verdicts

In 2010, Christopher Thorpe and Laure Thorpe were awarded $1.5 million in their products liability case against Davol and Bard. The Thorpe lawsuit was first found in favor of the defendants in a federal trial. Although Davol and Bard were found negligent in the Kugel mesh patch design, the Rhode Island jury ruled that the plaintiff did not adequately prove the negligent design directly caused or contributed to the damages he suffered. The jury in the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island, however, found Davol and Bard liable for injuries suffered due to the defective design.

The jury awarded the plaintiff $1.3 million and his wife $200,000 for loss of consortium. In Thorpe v. Davol, Inc., the Court upheld the plaintiffs' inadequate design claim, which may help other plaintiffs, such as Nancy Cotton. Two expert witnesses likely helped the case: an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and an experienced professor of bioengineering and orthopedic surgery research at the University of Pennsylvania.

Last July 2011, the Kugel Mesh makers negotiated with more than 100 law firms nationwide, which resulted in extended settlement offers of about $184 million in approximately 2,600 lawsuits that claimed serious complications caused by the Composix Kugel Mesh patch.

More than 3,000 Kugel Mesh lawsuits are currently ongoing or pending.

Despite Kugel Mesh having been recalled three times, it is still on the market. The first "Class 1" (meaning the defect associated with the use or exposure to the device has a reasonable probability to cause serious adverse health consequences, including death) recall of the large mesh patch occurred in December 2005, another recall in 2006, and again in January 2000 included other sizes of the mesh.