Hernia Mesh “Completely Dissolved”, According to Lawsuit Over Ethicon Physiomesh

Problems with Ethicon Physiomesh allegedy caused an Oregon woman to suffer painful complications following hernia repair, according to a product liability lawsuit filed after the hernia mesh totally dissolved inside her wound.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Melinda Rall in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on August 22, naming Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon subsidiary as defendants.

Rall underwent hernia repair surgery in September 2015, which involved the placement of a 25cm by 35cm Ethicon Physiomesh patch. However, the next month she was readmitted for a CT guided asperation of an anterior abdominal wall seroma. A year later, she was again hospitalized, but this time the surgeon found that the hernia mesh had become adhered to multiple loops of her small bowel. The adhesions were freed in a two to three hour surgical procedure, parts of the Physiomesh were removed, and additional mesh was implanted to fill in the gaps

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In February 2017, Rall was again hospitalized for pain, recurrent incisional hernia and other problems.

“The Physiomesh implanted in Plaintiff appeared to have disintegrated or completely dissolved in the area of the hernia,” Rall’s lawsuit indicates. “The Physiomesh implanted in Plaintiff was also found to be disrupted with bowel bulging through. Plaintiff’s Physiomesh was removed from the surface of the underlying bowel.”

The lawsuit indicates that Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson had a duty to adequately design, test, and manufacture the mesh to ensure that it was safe and effective before being placed on the market. The complaint claims the manufacturers failed in that duty.

The case joins a growing number of Ethicon Physiomesh lawsuits filed by individuals nationwide who have experienced complications following laparoscopic hernia repair in recent years.

Given the similar questions of fact and law presented in cases  pending throughout the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) decided last month to establish coordinated pretrial proceedings, centralizing all cases before U.S. District Judge Richard Story in the Northern District of Georgia to reduce duplicative discovery, avoid contradictory pretrial rulings and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the courts.

Rall’s case will be transferred to the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), which currently includes nearly 100 other claims. However, as hernia mesh lawyers continue to review and file additional cases in the coming weeks and months, it is expected that several thousand complaints will ultimately be included in the litigation.

5 Comments

  • ErnestoSeptember 6, 2017 at 2:24 am

    That surgery ruind my life,I lost my job that I was there for almost 11 years I could go back because of the pain ,I couldn't get a job because of the reason I was dismissed,led to my divorce to because of financial problems I still have pain every time I over do it at work if I would never got that surgery I know my life would of been the same because I still feel like I use to feel withaut the s[Show More]That surgery ruind my life,I lost my job that I was there for almost 11 years I could go back because of the pain ,I couldn't get a job because of the reason I was dismissed,led to my divorce to because of financial problems I still have pain every time I over do it at work if I would never got that surgery I know my life would of been the same because I still feel like I use to feel withaut the surgery I'm not trying to get a free ticket because money can't give me back my old life back,Ijust want these blue collar basterds to get a taste of their own medicine.it took me 3 years to get use to living like this

  • WandaSeptember 4, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    I'm haveing the same problems with my mesh from my hernia surgery back in dec of 2015 I'm having surgery again on the twenty second of this month.

  • JudithSeptember 1, 2017 at 11:18 am

    Omg! I wonder if that's what happened to me? I have had severe, debilitating pain since a femoral hernia repair! I asked a surgeon to see if maybe a stitch or something was on my nerve, or maybe my body was rejecting the mesh? ...only to find out, after they went back in laproacopically, there was no mesh! This nerve damage has COMPLETELY altered my life!?

  • JudithSeptember 1, 2017 at 11:13 am

    Omg! I wonder if that's what happened to me? I have had severe, debilitating pain since a femoral hernia repair! I asked a surgeon to see if maybe a stitch or something was on my nerve, or maybe my body was rejecting the mesh? ...only to find out, after they were t back in laproacopically, there was no mesh! This nerve damage has COMPLETELY altered my life!?

  • geraldAugust 31, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    All white collar criminals that put in( foreign material) mesh of any kind should spend time in prison.Have the same experience along with those that manufacture (foreign material)mesh to them.C.R.Bard also.

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