Jury Adds $7.6M to Woman’s Vaginal Mesh Settlement Award

Many have been following the Johnson & Johnson vaginal mesh lawsuit trial very closely and it was big news when the jury previously awarded the plaintiff $3.35 million in compensatory damages. However, after taking two weeks to carefully deliberate, the jury has now added $7.76 million in punitive damages to Ms. Gross’ settlement award.  

The vaginal mesh implant lawsuit was filed after Ms. Gross had to undergo 18 surgeries in order to correct the side effects caused by Johnson & Johnson’s Gynecare Prolift implant. Some of the allegations raised in the lawsuit were the fact that Johnson & Johnson knew about the severe side effects that vaginal mesh can cause and chose not to disclose these risks to patients or the medical community.

Johnson & Johnson started marketing Gynecare Prolift in 2005 — a full 2 years before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was even notified about the product. It has been reported that J&J sold the vaginal mesh implant for 3 years prior to receiving FDA approval for the product. The FDA has refuted the company’s claim that it was not required to perform any additional testing for the Prolift due to the fact that it was so similar to another vaginal mesh implant it already had on the market.

Products containing synthetic vaginal mesh have been frequently used as a treatment option for women who require additional support for the pelvic muscles. This is a common problem after giving birth. Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) are both common conditions that vaginal mesh implants have been used to treat.

However, the FDA has reported that over 4,000 side effect claims have been provided to them regarding vaginal mesh implants. One of the common side effect complaints includes mesh erosion.  Other side effects include infection, painful sexual intercourse, pain in general, organ perforation, and the reoccurrence of pelvic organ prolapse. It was announced by the FDA that there had been a 5-fold increase in vaginal mesh side effects from the years 2008 to 2011. From there a warning was issued notifying the public of the side effects associated with these products.

This is just the first of many vaginal mesh lawsuits that are currently pending. It was last reported that there are approximately 1,800 Gynecare Prolift lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson that have been consolidated in the New Jersey court system. It has also been reported that there are over 4,000 lawsuits filed in total against many different vaginal mesh manufacturers.

If you have been injured due to a vaginal mesh implant of any kind you still have time to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for your injuries. Learn more about your options with a free legal review by visiting the Transvaginal Mesh, Vaginal Sling, Vaginal Mesh and Bladder Sling Class Action Lawsuit Investigation page. There are vaginal mesh injury lawyers standing by ready to help you with your case.