On Wednesday, April 24, a Philadelphia jury awarded $120 million to a woman who claimed she suffered incontinence and chronic pain due to Ethicon Inc.'s defectively designed transvaginal mesh.
The trial involved claims filed by a Pennsylvania woman who was implanted with J&J and Ethicon’s TVT-O pelvic implant to treat her urinary stress incontinence. She complained that the negligent design of the mesh caused it to erode into the soft tissue in her pelvis and injured her vagina, she had to undergo multiple surgeries to remove broken pieces of the mesh, but some fragments still remained in her body. She alleged that the complications prevented her from having sex for the last 10 years. The trial began in September 2018 and left the jury deadlocked on whether the mesh actually caused her injuries. The retrial, which began in March, was halted for a month when an expert witness suffered a heart attack. Wednesday's verdict includes $20 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.
There are more than 48,000 lawsuits filed against various transvaginal mesh manufacturers over devastating injuries caused due to their faulty designs. The FDA recently ordered a halt on the sale and distribution of all transvaginal mesh in the U.S.
