Gynecare

January 11, 2015

Hysterectomy Morcellator Cancer 2015 Update

There are many product liability lawsuits being filed against the manufacturers of power morcellators. The injured women claim that patients and doctors should have been warned about the risks associated with use of the medical devices during minimally invasive, laparoscopic hysterectomies.

What Are Power Morcellators?

Power morcellators are medical devices that are used during laparoscopic hysterectomy and myomectomy procedures. The device allows the surgeon to grind up the uterus or uterine fibroids and remove the tissue through a small incision in the abdomen. The medical device is used during minimally invasive surgery, and reduces recovery time, scarring and speeds up recovery time.

December 16, 2014

Wrongful Death Uterine Cancer Ethicon Morcellator Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Missouri family has recently filed an uterine cancer lawsuit over power morcellators. The deceased woman’s family alleged that the morcellator device manufactured by Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon subsidiary caused cancer to be widely spread during a robotic hysterectomy.

Ethicon Morcellator Wrongful Death Claim

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in early December, following the death of Carl Cecilia Merrill from a rare, malignant cancer called leiomyosarcoma.

November 14, 2014

Boston Scientific Ordered To Pay $26.7 M in Florida Transvaginal Mesh Cases

by Dr. Shezad Malik

In the first federal trial involving Boston Scientific Corp., the vaginal mesh manufacturer was ordered by the jury to pay $26.7 million to a group of four women who blamed the company’s vaginal mesh inserts for their personal injuries.

Jurors in federal court in Miami found that Boston Scientific officials defectively designed their Pinnacle pelvic-organ implants and failed to properly warn doctors and their patients about the device’s risks.

The verdict is the first in a federal case against Boston Scientific over the Pinnacle inserts and the first to combine more than one plaintiff’s claims.

September 10, 2014

Dallas Jury Crushes Boston Scientific Mesh Case $73 Million Verdict

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Boston Scientific was crushed in its vaginal mesh debacle, when a Texas state jury ordered the device manufacturer to pay $73 million to a woman who developed chronic pain and injury from the company’s vaginal mesh implant. This was the first award against the device maker over its incontinence slings.

Earlier this week, the Dallas jury found Boston Scientific liable for Martha Salazar’s personal injuries, they found that the company’s Obtryx sling was defectively designed and that the company acted with gross negligence in the sale and marketing of the products. The Texas jury awarded her about $23 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages in a two week trial.

Boston Scientific Exposed to Over 20,000 Lawsuits

September 5, 2014

J&J Ethicon Hammered for $3.27M in Trans Vaginal Mesh Trial

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A federal jury in West Virginia today hammered Johnson and Johnson’s Ethicon subsidiary over its transvaginal mesh device. The jury awarded $3.27 million to Jo Huskey over its defective Gynecare TVT Obturator, or TVT-O, transvaginal mesh device. This is one of 33,000 product liability injury lawsuits that claim Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Inc unit sold defective transvaginal mesh devices.

Federal Jury Verdict

After a two-week trial, jurors found Ethicon liable for selling defective mesh devices and failing to warn patients and their doctors that they were at risk from serious side effects including pain, erosion, perforation and infection.

August 30, 2014

Boston Scientific Wins 2nd Trans Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to a Massachusetts jury, Boston Scientific’s vaginal-mesh sling was not defectively designed and the company properly warned about its health risks. This verdict marks a second victory for the company in two state trials over the vaginal mesh inserts.

Jurors in state court in Woburn, Massachusetts, cleared Boston Scientific of any liability for Maria Cardenas’s injuries. Cardenas, had the Boston Scientific’s Obtryx sling implanted to fix urinary incontinence problems. According to Cardenas, the sling caused her pain and she was forced to have it removed surgically.

Transvaginal Mesh and Sling Defects

June 6, 2014

J&J Ethicon Trans Vaginal Mesh MDL Trial Set For August

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon subsidiary are exposed to more than 17,500 Ethicon pelvic mesh lawsuits in the federal court system.

Thousands of injured women have filed Ethicon Gynecare mesh product liability lawsuits for transvaginal repair, pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) damage symptoms after the mesh surgeries.

The Ethicon Gynecare pelvic mesh and bladder sling products have been under fire for causing severe and debilitating injuries when the mesh erodes through the vagina, causing serious infections and the need for revision surgeries.

April 30, 2014

FDA: Reclassification of Trans Vaginal Mesh as High Risk Device

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued two proposed orders to address the health risks associated with surgical mesh used for transvaginal repair of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). If finalized, the orders would reclassify surgical mesh for transvaginal POP from a moderate-risk device (class II) to a high-risk device (class III) and require manufacturers to submit a premarket approval (PMA) application for the agency to evaluate safety and effectiveness.

What is Pelvic Organ Prolapse?

March 10, 2014

Coloplast Settles Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to confidential sources and a news report in Bloomberg, Coloplast A/S, has agreed to pay about $16 million to settle its transvaginal mesh lawsuits. Injured women who were implanted with the Danish mesh manufacturer’s vaginal-mesh inserts had filed personal injury claims against the company.

The Denmark-based Coloplast agreed in January to resolve about 400 suits over the plastic mesh implants which are designed to support internal organs. The settlement is said to provide an average payment of about $40,000 for each claimant.

January 24, 2014

Report: J&J Ethicon Vaginal Mesh Company Destroyed Crucial Files

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Injured women who have alleged product liability vaginal mesh lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon, have also filed a motion for sanctions. This motion claims that the manufacturer has destroyed a massive amount of data that was relevant to the litigation. Allegedly Ethicon destroyed or lost hundreds of thousands of important documents that should have been preserved.

Thousands of Ethicon Vaginal Mesh Claims