First Mentor ObTape Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits Go to Trial This Week

The first of hundreds of lawsuits over Mentor ObTape, a vaginal sling that has been associated with complications for women who received the mesh implant to treat female stress urinary incontinence, is scheduled for trial to begin this week. 

The Mentor ObTape trial, which will take place in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, is a consolidation of several vaginal sling lawsuits involving seven different plaintiffs; four women who were implanted with the ObTape sling and three of their spouses. The cases will be the first to go to trial of about 350 Mentor ObTape lawsuits that are consolidated and centralized under U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) for pretrial proceedings.

All of the cases involves similar allegations that problems with the Mentor ObTape sling resulted in complications such as vaginal extrusions, urinary tract erosion, severe pain and infection. Some women have required multiple surgeries to remove the sling and have been left with permanent and debilitating injuries.

The plaintiffs in the first trial include Janice and Terry Crowther, Jeannie and Kenneth Tucker, Kellie Looper, and Shirley Stafford and her husband, Torrence Pinkney. All of the women say they were implanted with the vaginal slings and then suffered injuries, and the husbands are suing for loss of consortium. Torrence Pinkney has also asserted a claim for his own bodily injury sustained during sexual relations with his wife after the vaginal sling was implanted.

According to an Order issued in advance of the trial, Judge Land intends to instruct jurors that, although the cases are being tried together, they must consider the evidence for each plaintiff separately. The vaginal sling lawsuits were combined by the court after plaintiffs argued that it would be the most efficient means of trying the cases. Mentor attempted to have the cases thrown out, but their motion to dismiss was denied earlier this year.

Mentor Corp. distributed approximately 16,271 ObTape slings between 2003 and 2006, when it was removed from the market. Also known as a bladder hammock, the sling is used to provide support for the vaginal wall, reinforcing the muscles that control the flow of urine. According to the complaints, a defective design of the Mentor ObTape can block oxygen and nutrients, increasing the risk that women may suffer severe and debilitating injuries following bladder surgery.