Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed over the past six years against various manufacturers of surgical mesh products used to treat conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence in women. These lawsuits challenged the safety and effectiveness of these products, after years of reports of women experiencing pain, bleeding, infection and other complications caused by the mesh implants. Often, the complications resulted in women having to undergo multiple surgeries to repair or remove the mesh product. Now, the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is finally getting on board with those of us who have been stating for years that these products are neither safe nor effective.
In July of 2011, the FDA concluded that women who were surgically implanted with vaginal mesh products had more complications than those who underwent traditional surgery involving stitches. At that time, the FDA issued an update on serious complications associated with the transvaginal placement of mesh for the condition known as pelvic organ prolapse (POP). This condition occurs when the tissue that holds the pelvic organs in place becomes weakened or stretched, resulting in the organs prolapse or bulge into the vaginal area, causing various and serious complications. In its 2011 update, the FDA informed doctors and patients that serious complications associated with the use of transvaginal mesh products for repair of pelvic organ prolapse were “not rare.”
This week, the FDA took a stronger stand against the use of surgical mesh products to repair POP in women, classifying transvaginal mesh products as “high-risk” medical products and subjecting them to additional regulatory scrutiny. Previously, these products were considered “moderate-risk” products. Now, the manufacturers of pelvic mesh products will have to submit new applications to the FDA, demonstrating both the safety and effectiveness of these mesh devices.