A panel of federal judges has agreed to centralize over 70 hernia mesh lawsuits against a Medtronic unit in the Massachusetts federal court.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation initiated the move citing the allegations from the patients that the hernia mesh products caused injuries. As per a JMPL's order during a July 2020 hearing, there were only 12 suits pending against Medtronic's Covidien, which eventually resulted in the rejection of the suits' centralization. But now, there are 73 suits pending against the products in seven districts.
All the plaintiffs involved in the lawsuits raise similar allegations that certain polypropylene products sold by the company resulted in the patients suffering from painful and debilitating complications. The products causing the injuries include Covidien Parietex, Covidien Symbotex and others.
The plaintiffs even allege that the hernia mesh products are brittle and prone to problems like inflammation. Some patients have even alleged that collagen barrier or polylactic microgrips used in some of the mesh products are defective.
Centralizing the federal lawsuits is necessary to make coordinating the litigations easier as there are 4,700 cases pending against the mesh products in the Massachusetts state court. It is one of the rare instances where both defendant and the plaintiffs' groups have agreed on the need to consolidate and coordinate the suits in an MDL. The company even argued that more cases are expected to be filed, which will make informal coordination and cooperation difficult.
The spokesperson for the company said that it is confident in defending the lawsuits as Covidien hernia mesh products have been safely used by millions of users throughout the years.
