Federal Court Asks To Store Hernia Mesh Samples For Testing

Federal Court Asks To Store Hernia Mesh Samples For Testing

Introduction

In an order submitted on December 18, defendants must furnish eight exemplary samples for ten different variations of Ethicon Physiomesh at the earliest by next month. The Court expects some of the samples to be kept for other purposes though plaintiffs may conduct destructive testing on some of them. The remaining samples would be returned to Ethicon when the multidistrict litigation concludes.

Ethicon took off their Physiomesh in May 2016 from the global market following reports from two European hernia registries that the mesh was prone to cause complications requiring correction surgeries compared to other products available in the market. Though official recalls were conducted in Canada and other countries, in the U.S Ethicon informed healthcare providers to return any implants which were unused. Over 1,600 lawsuits have been filed against Ethicon in the Georgia federal court, all with similar complaints of inadequate pre-market testing and negligent conduct to forewarn doctors and patients about the risks of Physiomesh. Plaintiffs claimed the mesh is defectively designed and leads to infections, adhesions, and chronic pain. Hundreds of hernia mesh lawsuits linked to Ethicon Inc 's Physiomesh Composite Flexible Mesh are moving forward in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia overlooked by Judge Richard W. Story. The bellwether trials for the federal Physiomesh cases would begin in December 2019.

As per an order submitted on September 7, hernia mesh lawsuits involving C.R. Bard Inc 's polypropylene implants can be filed directly in the multidistrict litigation which is underway in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio. The direct filing would eliminate delays in transferring the cases from other jurisdiction. Also, it would promote judicial efficiency and facilitate coordinated discovery and other pretrial proceedings. Any case remaining unresolved would be remanded back to appropriate jurisdiction and venue for trial by the Court.

There are more than 170 hernia mesh lawsuits pending in the federal MDL filed by individuals who suffered serious injuries allegedly due to the defective polypropylene hernia mesh implants. Ventralex, Perfix, and Composix devices sold by C.R. Bard and its Davol, Inc. subsidiary have been reported to be defectively designed in the lawsuits.