Hernia Patch Failure Lawsuit Alleges Bard Ventralight Poses Unreasonable Risks

A Rhode Island woman says she suffered painful complications following a hernia patch failure were caused by design problems with the Bard Ventralight ST Mesh, joining a growing number of lawsuits filed in recent months against the makers of the polypropylene mesh. 

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Victoria Alfo in Rhode Island federal court on August 14, indicating that she had to have a Bard Ventralight hernia patch removed less than two months after it was implanted during a hernia repair surgery.

C.R. Bard and it’s Davol, Inc. subsidiary are accused of selling a dangerous and defective product, which Alfo indicates was unreasonably unsafe.

Alfo indicates that a 6″ by 8″ Ventralight ST Bard hernia patch was placed in her body during an umbilical hernia repair on August 5, 2015. However, by September 30, 2015, she had to undergo revision surgery to have the mesh removed after the hernia patch failed and became exposed, resulting in the development of puss around it.

“Defendants’ poor quality control and general non-compliance resulted in the nonconformance of the ST Bard Mesh implanted in Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “The ST Bard Mesh implanted in Plaintiff did not conform to the Defendants’ intended manufacturing and design specifications.”

Alfo’s  lawsuit joins a growing number of similar product liability claims filed over the Bard hernia patch products filed in recent months, each raising similar allegations.

The case will be consolidated with dozens of other complaints brought throughout the federal court system, which have been centralized as part of a federal Bard hernia mesh MDL in the Southern District of Ohio, where one judge is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Similar centralized proceedings have already been established for Ethicon hernia mesh lawsuits and Atrium C-Qur mesh lawsuits, each of which already involve several hundred claims.

As lawyer continue to review and file cases in the coming months and years, it is ultimately expected that close to 10,000 hernia mesh lawsuits may eventually be filed against various different companies by individuals who received polypropylene products.