Johnson & Johnson for many years represented the risks of vaginal mesh implants for thousands of patients, according to the attorneys general of Washington state and California this week as they filed lawsuits against the healthcare giant.
One of the patients named in one of the lawsuits is Dawna Hankins, who was supposed to have a partial hysterectomy in 2008. Instead, her doctor recommended implanting a J&J vaginal mesh device to help with her minor incontinence.
After that surgery, she suffered three years of itching, pain and urinary tract infections. She had to have three more surgeries to remove the mesh, but some of it is still in her body and her incontinence has gotten worse.
In the lawsuits, Attorneys General Bob Ferguson of Washington and Kamala Harris of California accused the New Jersey-based company of failing to inform patients and doctors about many of the serious risks of the implants. Some of the most common side effects of vaginal mesh implants include urinary dysfunction, loss of sexual functions, and severe pain.
Patients have filed thousands of personal injury lawsuits against J&N and Endo International. In 2014, the latter medical device company stated that it would pay $800 million to settle 20,000 lawsuits. J&J currently faces 35,000 lawsuits over pelvic mesh.
The mesh device is used to treat pelvic organ prolapse, which often involves the bladder, bowel and uterus shifting. FDA in 2016 re-labeled the devices as high risk rather than moderate risk and has announced there will be tougher scrutiny of the controversial medical devices.
Our Virginia medical device personal injury law firm often receives calls from people who have been injured by devices such as vaginal mesh. Some of these callers have seen the typical TV advertisements from large national law firms that take on hundreds of these medical device personal injury cases.
There is nothing at all wrong with using one of those law firms, but our Virginia personal injury law firm specializes in providing the client with more personal, one on one customer service. When you are working with a huge law firm, you may not even get to speak personally with the attorney on the case. We also have more than 140 years of combined legal experience, and we have represented injured clients who have received multi million dollar settlements, including this $46 million case.
Anyone who has been injured by a medical device should speak to an experienced personal injury attorney in their state who provides them with personal, one on one service immediately.
Another advantage of working with a medical device lawsuit attorney is that they can get your medical records and determine which exact product you have implanted in your body. This is a common issue with some patients, as they may not know with certainty which company produced their device.
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