Working at a Friendly’s distribution center, a mother of five enjoyed travelling with her softball team all over the country. But during her time playing, she was starting to have problems with incontinence. She consulted a physician who told her about a medical solution—Ethicon’s TVT-Secur pelvic mesh implant. In May 2007, the woman received that implant, but she couldn’t have anticipated what would happen when the device failed.
When Pelvic Mesh Fails…
Stress urinary incontinence can be caused by many different things. For this woman, birthing five children vaginally and maintaining an active lifestyle led to incontinence in her daily life. A pelvic mesh implant seemed like a viable solution for the then 41-year-old mother. However, a few months after the initial implant, this woman started to develop problems.
In July 2007, two months after implantation, she underwent corrective surgery for urethral erosion. At that time, she was implanted with a second TVT device to help, since her incontinence had not stopped. In June 2011, this mother was back under the surgeon’s knife due to further mesh complications. In March 2012, she had her third corrective surgical procedure. During this operation, the doctor was trying to find a piece of mesh that had migrated. He couldn’t find the piece, but did manage to remove other parts of the mesh devices. In 2016, the woman underwent another surgery to remove mesh pieces.
What Were This Mother’s Options?
Over the years this mother, now 51 years old, has dealt with severe incontinence and intense pelvic pain. She can no longer participate in the sports she loved and she has to stay close to a bathroom all the time. She also has to carry and wear diapers whenever she goes out. This is why she took Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to court.
She filed the case claiming the TVT devices she was implanted with were negligently designed and defective. The trial started on August 4th and lasted for nearly a month. In the end, a jury agreed with the plaintiff, awarding her $57 million. Ethicon plans to appeal the verdict.
The product liability attorneys at Keefe Law Firm have experience with cases where people have been injured or lost their lives to defective medical devices like this. Thankfully, our legal system allows for remedies in these disastrous situations. This makes contacting a lawyer one of the best options for families and individuals suffering due to a product defect.