Some 140 women who experienced distressing side effects after getting vaginal mesh implants have won payouts expected to stretch into millions of pounds in England.
The women, whose case constitutes the first successful group claim in England, have come to a settlement with the manufacturers Johnson & Johnson, Bard, and Boston Scientific but the exact amount of the payments is yet to be revealed.
They claimed the implants, which are for stress urinary incontinence and prolapse, caused infection, bleeding, chronic pain, bladder and bowel perforations, and problems urinating, among other complications.
Many of the women were forced to have surgery to get the mesh removed and some still have ongoing issues as a result of the implants.
Lisa Lunt, partner at Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the women, said: “Women implanted with transvaginal mesh have experienced years of chronic pain and suffering.
“Hundreds of women were prevented from making a claim due to strict 10-year time limits that are in force from the date that the product was manufactured. It’s about time that the government took action to increase the time limits.
“As a firm, we were pleased to represent clients who had been previously turned down by other firms and reach a conclusion in their claims.”
The three firms, Bard, Johnson & Johnson, and Boston Scientific, all stated the pelvic mesh claims litigation had been settled without admission of liability, with Boston saying the claims were resolved without any admission of misconduct.
Pogust Goodhead says more than 100,000 women in the UK were fitted with a transvaginal mesh implant between 2010 and now.
On its website, the firm says: “The TVM plastic, known to erode and disintegrate and slice through organs and vaginal walls, has maimed thousands of women like you, causing debilitating pelvic pain and other complications following surgery to repair pelvic organ prolapse or female stress urinary incontinence.
Women implanted with transvaginal mesh have experienced years of chronic pain and suffering.
Lisa Lunt
“Facing limited treatment options, many women have endured additional surgeries to remove the mesh and repair damaged tissue.”
The law firm argued manufacturers of the mesh did not adequately “research, design and test” their items before selling the “unreasonably dangerous devices” without providing users with proper warnings about their risks – and said thousands of women around the world have been harmed by them.
It previously emerged that hundreds of women who endured injuries after getting transvaginal meshes in Scotland would be sharing £50m in compensation in the wake of Johnson & Johnson settling their claims.