C.R. Bard, a unit of Becton Dickinson, agreed to pay $60 million to 48 states to settle the thousands of transvaginal mesh lawsuits filed against them. In recent years, women nationwide have filed complaints over the company’s marketing of pelvic mesh products, which caused severe and unbearable injuries, many of them requiring a painful revision surgery to fix.
This pelvic mesh settlement comes after Bard’s massive losses in court, where they paid millions to resolve individual product liability claims against them over problems with their surgical mesh. Plaintiffs in these lawsuits alleged Bard’s transvaginal mesh products caused serious health risks including but not limited to chronic pain, infections, scarring, and erosion of the mesh through the vaginal walls.
In early 2019 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pulled all transvaginal repair mesh from the marketplace after uncovering manufacturers failed to ensure their products were safe or effective Currently over 100,000 product liability lawsuits have been consolidated as part of a massive litigation over complications with surgical mesh sold by not only Bard, but Boston Scientific, Ethicon, and other companies.
The announcement of the Bard transvaginal mesh litigation was issued by a number of state attorneys general on September 24. Many of these attorneys general accused C.R. Bard of engaging in deceptive marketing practices in order to push transvaginal mesh product sales.
“C. R. Bard sold these transvaginal surgical mesh devices, knowing that they could have serious, permanent side effects,” said Attorney General Kwame Raoul of Illinois in a September 24 press release. “The company’s actions caused women to experience painful and life-changing medical issues. Today’s settlement holds C.R. Bard and its parent company accountable and ensures that any future patients are better informed about the use of surgical mesh products.”
The Bard surgical mesh settlement resolves claims filed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, excepting West Virginia and Wyoming.
