Dozens of women who were injured in vaginal mesh implant scandal set to receive payouts worth millions of pounds

More than 100 women who suffered complications from vaginal mesh implants are the first in England to get payouts as part of a group claim.

It is understood 140 women reached an undisclosed settlement with manufacturers Johnson & Johnson, Bard and Boston Scientific. Payouts are expected to total millions of pounds and follow a long-running campaign by the Mail.

Transvaginal mesh implants, which are made of plastic, were used to treat incontinence and prolapse after childbirth. 

But complications included chronic pain ‘like razors inside the body’, difficulty urinating, bladder and bowel perforations, bleeding and mesh eroding through the vaginal wall. Many needed further surgery to remove the mesh.

Lisa Lunt at law firm Pogust Goodhead, which led the litigation at the High Court in London, said women implanted with the mesh have had ‘years of suffering’ and that ‘hundreds’ were prevented from making a claim due to ten-year time limits from the date of manufacture.

Kath Sansom, of the Sling the Mesh campaign, said the 140 women were ‘only a tiny fraction of the thousands who have had their lives irreversibly changed’ (pictured)

Johnson and Johnson headquarters in New Jersey. It is understood 140 women reached an undisclosed settlement with manufacturers Johnson & Johnson , Bard and Boston Scientific

In April 2018, then-health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced a review into vaginal mesh. Their use was suspended in July 2018 and they are now used only as a last resort. The government-commissioned inquiry blamed the scandal on a culture of medical misogyny.

Kath Sansom, of the Sling the Mesh campaign, said the 140 women were ‘only a tiny fraction of the thousands who have had their lives irreversibly changed’.

A report by the patient safe commissioner called for a government-led compensation scheme, with initial payments of £20,000 for those injured by implants.

Each of the companies involved in the case confirmed the actions had been resolved without admission of liability.

The Department of Health said it is considering the review’s recommendations.