Malpractice Lawsuit Over Bard Avaulta Mesh Filed

Another medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed against a West Virginia gynecologist over the use of a Bard Avaulta vaginal mesh, which has allegedly caused the plaintiff to suffer severe permanent injury and disfiguration.

The Bard Avaulta malpractice lawsuit was filed against Dr. Mitchell E. Nutt, of Huntington, West Virginia, by Dinana Boerke on June 24 in Cabell Circuit Court. Boerke claims that Nutt negligently implanted part of the Bard Avaulta system into her body to treat pelvic organ prolapse. According to a report in the West Virginia Record, the complaint also includes product liability claims against C.R. Bard and Covidien.

Boerke’s claim is one of more than a dozen similar lawsuits filed against Nutt over the use of the Avaulta Anterior and Posterior BioSynthetic Support System. A growing number of lawsuits over Bard Avaulta vaginal mesh have also been filed in courts throughout the United States involving similar allegations that C.R. Bard, the manufacturer, was negligent in the product’s design and in failing to warn patients of possible complications with Bard Avaulta pelvic organ prolapse mesh.

The lawsuit claims Boerke suffered mental and physical pain and suffering, permanent injury, substantial physical deformity and loss of a bodily organ system. She alleges that the implanted mesh was harmful and unwanted.

In October 2008, the FDA issued a warning about problems with surgical mesh like the Bard Avaulta. The vaginal mesh products, which are used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI), have been associated with over 1,000 reports of severe infection, pain, urinary problems and bowel, bladder or blood-vessel perforations. Many women have also reported recurrences of the prolapse or incontinence, and the need for additional surgeries to remove mesh that had eroded into the vagina.

A pelvic organ prolapse occurs when organs such as the bladder, uterus, bowel or rectum drop and push against the wall of the vagina. This happens when the muscles holding the pelvic organ in place become weak or stretched, often due to childbirth or surgery. The surgical mesh is used to support the muscle.

Last month a petition was filed with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate the federal Bard Avaulta litigation in one court for pretrial proceedings. At least 36 federal court cases are currently pending against C.R. Bard over problems with Avaulta vaginal mesh.

If an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, is formed, all cases filed in federal district courts throughout the United States will be transferred to one judge. In addition, as Bard Avaulta lawyers continue to review and file additional federal cases in the future, those claims will also be transferred into the MDL.