Kugel Mesh Litigation in Canada and the US Ongoing

Sherman, TXWhile more than 2,600 Kugel Mesh victims have settled claims from C.R. Bard, the parent company of Davol, people are still filing Kugel Mesh lawsuits claiming the medical device manufacturer failed to adequately design the hernia patches and failed to warn doctors and patients of known problems with the mesh.

The tort product liability suit filed in Rhode Island District Court resulted in a $184 million Kugel Mesh settlement that dates back to December 2005, when Bard began to recall its product. (The recall was due to reports that the memory recoil ring, which opens the patch after placement, breaks and/or buckles under stress and causes serious complications.) The settlement came about after just two out of approximately 3,600 Kugel Mesh hernia lawsuits had made it to trial.

Bard settled an individual case one year previously. In 2010, Christopher Thorpe was awarded $1.5 million in damages due to a sepsis infection and severe internal injuries after the Kugel Mesh patch broke inside of him. Along with sepsis, Kugel Mesh victims allege a number of serious medical complications including bowel perforation, intestinal fistulas and abdominal abscess formation.

Twenty-four women filed a product liability lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, in September 2013. All the women were implanted with the mesh to repair hernias and they all allege serious injuries from Kugel Mesh defects, including pain, infections, sepsis, abscesses and chronic intestinal fistulae. The lawsuit further claims the mesh products, including Composix Kugel Mesh Patch, the Composix E/X Hernia Patch, the Composix L/P Hernia Patch and the Ventralex Hernia Patch, is inadequate or insufficient to maintain its integrity during normal use after implantation in the patient.

One month later, another Texas woman filed suit against Davol and Bard Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, according to The Southeast Texas Record. Alicia Daniel was implanted with the mesh to repair a hernia. She is seeking damages for medical expenses, loss of earning capacity, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, medical and pecuniary losses, and court costs (Case No. 6:13-cv-00747).

And in March 2014, Casey Oppenheim filed a tort product liability suit in Rhode Island District Court against the Kugel Mesh makers.

Another class-action settlement was reached last November in Toronto. Although the deadline for filing a claim in this class action has passed, Kugel Mesh attorneys in Canada and the US are still investigating claims.