A woman from Florida has filed a hernia mesh lawsuit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County, claiming that the surgical mesh Ethicon caused severe adhesions. The plaintiff claims that the products are defective and that the manufacturers, Ethicon and its parent company Johnson & Johnson, mislead patients in their advertisements. They failed to warn of serious risk, the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff underwent abdominal hernia repair surgery in 2009 at Union Hospital in Elkton, Maryland. The surgeons used a 4” x 6” Proceed mesh product. Nearly one year later, the plaintiff had to undergo a second surgery to repair an inguinal hernia. A large Prolene hernia system was implanted at that time.
The product, designed specifically for inguinal hernia repair, was supposed to adapt to “various stresses encountered in the body.”
The plaintiff’s experience was not a positive one. In May 2010, she had a revision surgery of the original abdominal hernia operations due to complications with the Proceed mesh product. The plaintiff’s physician noted that there was an “extensive amount of bowel adhesions on the right side of the mesh.” The physician said that the mesh had adhered so strongly to the tissues that the doctor could not remove it all.
Despite the revision surgery, the plaintiff still experienced problems. In 2015, the plaintiff underwent another surgery to remove both the Ethicon Prolene and Ethicon Proceed mesh products. The surgeon removed adhesions from the patient’s small bowel.
As the surgeon continued the revision surgery, he noted two nerves embedded in the mesh. The surgeon managed to free the nerves, but blood vessels had also grown into the mesh. Those had to be clipped and divided for complete removal.
The plaintiff claims that she still experiences diarrhea, severe pain, loss of appetite, inflammation, and extreme weight loss due to the mesh complications.
For more, see: What You Need to Know About Hernia Mesh Lawsuits.
