According to the National Foundation for Continence, an estimated 3.3 million women suffer from some form of pelvic organ prolapse (POP). POP occurs when pelvic tissue and muscles lose strength and become unable to hold organs like the bladder, bowel and cervix in place.
Symptoms of POP include stress incontinence, pain and bulging in the vaginal area. POP is commonly treated with pelvic floor exercises and sometimes with surgery. For many women, surgery for POP changed their lives forever.
When 47-year old South Dakota nurse Linda Gross received a mesh implant in 2006, she hoped it ended of her problems with POP. Used in hundreds of thousands of women, the mesh is intended to act as a sling to support sagging pelvic organs. Unfortunately for Ms. Gross, she experienced some of the complications that have since led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a series of warnings about the dangers associated with use of transvaginal mesh. The FDA’s concerns include:
- Erosion of vaginal tissue and protrusion of mesh into the vagina
- Damage and perforation of pelvic organs, including the bladder and bowel
- Permanent nerve and blood vessel damage
- Inflammation, infection and scarring
After 18 surgeries to correct damage caused by the implant, Ms. Gross can sit for only 20 minutes without pain and must self-catheterize to urinate. In the first lawsuit of its kind, Ms. Gross sued one of nine manufacturers of the surgical mesh, Johnson and Johnson, for failure of their product and the damage it caused. Ms. Gross prevailed in court.
The first of approximately 1,200 lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, Ms. Gross was awarded $11.1 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damage for her suffering.
If you received a mesh implant to treat POP and suffered injury, seek experienced legal adviceabout your rights. The attorneys of Stipe Law Firm have been protecting the best interests of injured individuals in Oklahoma for the last 60 years and can do the same for you.