NJ Supreme Court Agrees To Consolidate Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

NJ Supreme Court Agrees To Consolidate Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

Introduction

The New Jersey Supreme Court has planned to merge all hernia mesh lawsuits, which allege Ethicon’s Prolene Hernia System of causing injuries to the plaintiffs. All the lawsuits will be headed by the Superior Court Judge John C. Porto in Atlantic County, as part of multicounty litigation.

The plan to merge all Prolene Hernia System cases and present them before a single judge is to reduce the number of trials, which can lessen the number of trials, and have common witnesses and parties.

The State Supreme Court rejected the requests to consolidate the Prolene Hernia System cases before in August 2018, and again in May 2019. However, the court approved to create separate litigations involving Ethicon Physiomesh in August 2018, and Ethicon Proceed meshes in May 2019. 

There was an increase in the sale of hernia mesh after the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved it in the year 2010. The mesh used for repairing hernia was promoted as a physiologically well-designed device, offering strong and comfortable healing and giving an exceptional intraoperative handling benefit. 

In the United States, hernia mesh is used in 9 out of 10 hernia surgeries annually. The U.S. FDA had earlier approved this device, stating that the device can help patients to recover in less time after surgery compared to other treatment options. However, years later this mesh had to be recalled after many complications were reported. Patients after undergoing the surgery using hernia mesh complained of bowel obstruction, adhesion, infection, chronic pain and hernia recurrence.

Currently, there are more than 100 Prolene hernia system lawsuits pending in New Jersey, each claiming that the products resulted in individuals suffering painful and debilitating injuries after a hernia repair because of the design defect.