Ethicon Pelvic Mesh Trial Concludes With $41 Million Verdict

Ethicon Pelvic Mesh Trial Concludes With $41 Million Verdict

Introduction

On Thursday, January 31, a Philadelphia jury ordered Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon subsidiary to pay $41 million to the plaintiff in a product liability lawsuit involving Gynemesh, Prolift, and TVT-O meshes.

The lawsuit was brought by a 57-year old plaintiff who went through surgery after surgery to get rid of the discomfort, infections, and other painful complications caused by the vaginal mesh.  In May 2007, she was implanted with Prolift pelvic mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse, and in subsequent years she was implanted with a TVT-O mesh to treat incontinence, and a Gynemesh to fix pelvic floor disorders. According to the lawsuit, these surgeries proved to be a nightmare for the woman, as well as several other women who experienced similar complications due to the device's high failure rate and irreversible side-effects. The plaintiff's attorneys told, “this jury rightfully compensated one of the thousands of Johnson & Johnson victims terribly injured by its mesh products and sent a strong deterrent message through its punitive damages verdict.” The verdict includes $25 million in punitive damages, $15 million in compensation, and $1 million to the plaintiff's husband for the loss of consortium.

J&J faces about 37,400 lawsuits related to defective pelvic mesh complications. Ethicon Pelvic Mesh lawsuits are consolidated as a part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2327; In Re: Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation) overlooked by U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia.