Lawsuit Over Atruim C-Qur Mesh Alleges Doctors Misled About Hernia Repair Patch Safety Problems

As a growing number of Atrium C-Qur mesh lawsuits continue to be filed in courts nationwide, a recently filed case alleges the manufacturer knew about the serious risks with their hernia patch, but misled federal regulators and the medical community.

In a complaint (PDF) filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Kent Simmons indicates that experienced severe abdominal pain and mesh exposure after an Atrium C-Qur patch was implanted for hernia repair, maintaining the product was defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous.

Following hernia surgery in October 2015, Simmons states that he required additional surgery only two months later to remove the Atrium C-Qur hernia mesh, after it migrated through his skin and became exposed, causing damage to the tissue of his abdominal wall.

Atrium C-Qur is a type of hernia mesh that is coated with an Omega 3 Fatty Acid Fish oil (O3FA), but Simmons points to it as the problem with the patch. The lawsuit notes that fish are a common allergy and that regulators expressed severe reservations about the use of the coating before Atrium released the C-Qur patch, warning that there could be severe, and life-threatening, allergic reactions.

Once the mesh hit the market, the lawsuit claims that Atrium received reports about problems following hernia repairs for years, but failed to provide adequate warning and failed to issue a Atrium C-Qur mesh recall.

“Upon receiving reports from surgeons and physicians of apparent allergic reactions to the C-Qur Mesh, Defendants not only failed to notify the FDA, but misled physicians about the ability and tendency of O3FA to cause allergic reactions in patients implanted with a C-Qur Mesh and attempted to convince the physicians of alternate causes,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants intentionally, or at very least, recklessly disregarded human life by lying to physicians about the possible causes of the allergic reaction, resulting in significantly more severe injuries in those already implanted with the C-Qur Mesh, and more patients nationwide being implanted with the C-Qur Mesh.”

The case joins a growing number of similar lawsuits filed in recent months over the safety problems with C-Qur mesh, which raise allegations that individuals suffered severe and debilitating complications following hernia repair.

With hundreds of cases likely to be filed in different U.S. District Courts nationwide, a motion was filed in October to transfer all Atrium C-Qur hernia patch cases to one federal judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings, as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation heard oral arguments on the motion during a hearing on December 3, in New Orleans, and is currently weighing whether to approve consolidation.