Covidien Parietex and Gore Hernia Mesh Complications Led To Injuries, Cancer Scare, Lawsuit Claims

According to allegations raised in a recently filed product liability lawsuit, complications from Covidien Parietex, Gore Micromesh and other products resulted in a cancer misdiagnosis, because doctors were not warned about the potential risks associated with the hernia repair mesh. 

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Doublas L. Dendinger in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on April 23, naming Covidien, Medtronic, C.R. Bard, Davol Inc. and Gore & Associates, Inc. as defendants.

Over the past decade, Dendinger indicates that he has undergone a series of hernia repair procedures due to repeated failures involving different products, starting with a Gore Tex patch used to repair a left inguinal hernia in August 2009. He then received a Gore Micromesh patch for repair of a right inguinal hernia in February 2014, but that hernia mesh failed about two months laters.

In June 2014, Dendinger had the failed hernia repaired and replaced with a Covidien Parietex Mesh, which was secured with a Bard SorbaFix Absorbable Fixation System. However, in early 2017, Dendinger told his doctor he was suffering pain and a tightness or pulling sensation in the area of the hernia mesh procedures.

Following a CT scan in March 2017, doctors detected enlarged lymph nodes, which they told Dendinger was either lymphoma or some other form of metastatic cancer, and they began preparing him to be a cancer patient.

“During this time, Plaintiff expected the worst: In his mind and based on the CT Scan and his Physician’s discussion, he likely was suffering from cancer and, particularly frightening, the cancer had spread to vital organs,” the lawsuit notes. “The outlook was not good, and a dark cloud hung over Plaintiff and his wife.”

It was not until April 2017 that tests revealed that Dendinger did not in fact have cancer, and an endoscopy revealed that it was his Covidien Parietex Mesh that was causing the pain and health problems, which include pains, random bouts of fever, high blood pressure, a sharply diminished sex drive and unexplained nerve pain and burning sensations in his testicles and groin.

The complaint indicates that the manufacturers failed to provide adequate warnings about risks associated with their product, which were defectively designed and manufactured.

The case joins a growing litigation being pursued against multiple manufacturers involving similar problems with various hernia repair products. In addition to other Covidien Parietex mesh lawsuits, there are also a number of Bard hernia mesh lawsuits, Atrium C-Qur lawsuits and Ethicon Physiomesh lawsuits pending nationwide, leading to the federal court system to establish centralized pre-trial proceedings for litigation involving those products.