Parietex Hernia Mesh Prone To Unravel and Fail, Lawsuit Claims

A South Carolina man has filed a product liability lawsuit over hernia mesh complications associated with Covidien Parietex TET Mesh, which allegedly began unraveling in his body.

Michael Hamby filed the complaint (PDF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on March 15, naming Covidien LP and Medtronic, Inc., who developed the hernia patch, as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Hamby underwent hernia repair surgery in July 2013, at which time he received a Parietex TET Mesh implant. However, the complaint indicates that the design is unreasonably dangerous and defective, which led to Hamby suffering scarring, pain, hernia recurrence and the need for additional surgery.

The lawsuit raises claims that are similar to other Covidien Parietex mesh lawsuits, indicating that the design makes the patch prone to unravel inside the body, resulting in its fibers migrating and causing inflammatory responses. It can also contract over time, according to the lawsuit, causing tension on tacks and sutures that result in tearing.

“Covidien and Medtronic knew or should have known that Parietex TET Mesh was not a safe and effective treatment for hernias,” the lawsuit states. “Covidien and Medtronic also knew and should have known that Parietex TET Mesh was considerably more harmful and inadequate than other meshes or methods for hernia repair.”

The complaint indicates that the manufacturers failed to provide adequate warnings about risks that Parietex mesh may fail, claioming that it was defectively designed and manufactured.

The case joins a growing hernia mesh litigation being pursued against multiple manufacturers, each involving similar problems with the designs of products that have been widely used by surgeons throughout the U.S. over the past decade.

In addition to other Covidien Parietex mesh claims, 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 three separate centralized pre-trial proceedings for litigation involving those products. However, there is currently no consolidated proceeding for the Covidien mesh lawsuits.