Kline & Specter has won among the largest legal victories against the manufacturers of vaginal mesh products, with verdicts and settlements against Johnson & Johnson totaling more than $347 million.

Our firm's verdicts include the largest in the nation: a $120 million verdict -- including $100 million in punitive damages -- against J&J subsidiary Ethicon in 2019  (read article) and another $80 million verdict -- including $30 million in compensatory damages, the most-ever in that category -- against the company, also in 2019 (Read article), both for Pennsylvania women. Other verdicts included one for $57.1 million verdict -- $7.1 million in compensatory and $50 million in punitive damages -- against Ethicon for a Pennsylvania woman (Read article), and a $41 million verdict for a Lancaster, Pa., woman that included $25 million in punitive damages. In other cases Kline & Specter attorneys have won verdicts of $20 million, $13.5 million and $12.5 million for women injured by surgically implanted vaginal mesh devices.

If you or a loved one suffered a severe or catastrophic injury as a result of a transvaginal mesh procedure, you should contact a transvaginal mesh attorney for a free evaluation of your case.

In some cases the surgically implanted plastic-like mesh -- also called a bladder sling, pelvic sling or pelvic support -- has eroded or shrunk after being inserted, necessitating additional surgeries. As a result, tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the manufacturers of the urogynecological mesh products, including Ethicon Inc., a New Jersey subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Kline & Specter, with more than 50 attorneys, five of whom are also highly experienced doctors, including two OB/GYNs, is representing thousands of women from across the United States in their claims against the manufacturers of transvaginal mesh products. The law firm has the expertise to litigate transvaginal surgical mesh injury lawsuits.

In April 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered medical device companies selling surgical mesh for the repair of organ prolapse to stop all sales in the United States. The action was the most stringent taken by the FDA. However, the agency has not yet banned the sale of vaginal mesh products for treating urinary incontinence. (Read article)

Lee Balefsky, former head of Kline & Specter's Mass Tort Department, served as a member of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee involved in all transvaginal mesh lawsuits nationwide. The firm, led by Balefsky, is playing an important role in the litigation nationally by taking depositions of the manufacturers' key employees in the case.

The CBS show 60 Minutes reported that more than 100,000 lawsuits have been filed in all, including some 48,000 against another vaginal mesh manufacturer, Boston Scientific. Its report claimed that some of the Boston Scientific devices may have been made using inferior mesh “smuggled” into the United States from China.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2011 issued its second notification in three years to doctors and patients warning about the problems with surgical mesh products. It said that “serious complications associated with surgical mesh for transvaginal repair of POP (pelvic organ prolapse) are not rare” (FDA emphasis).

And that the problem was increasing dramatically: The agency received more than 1,000 reports of adverse events involving the mesh to treat POP and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) from 2005 – 2007 but almost triple that number in the following three years.

This has occurred as the urogynecologic surgical procedure using the mesh has also become increasingly popular. Doctors performed more than 100,000 of the operations in 2010, with about 75 percent performed transvaginally.

Unlike prescription drugs, which must be proven safe and effective before being sold, most medical devices face no such requirement.

Pelvic organ prolapse affects many women as they age, with the FDA estimating 30 to 50 percent of all women may experience POP during their lifetimes, with 2 percent developing symptoms such as urinary leaking during physical activity. POP occurs when the tissue holding the uterus, bladder, bowel and rectum become stretched or weak and the organs fall down or slip out of place. The mesh is used as a sort of cradle or nest to hold up a patient’s insides.

But over time, erosion or contraction of the mesh – described as being made of a material similar to that of Rubbermaid storage containers -- has led to complications, with symptoms including bleeding, severe pelvic pain, painful sexual intercourse and urinary problems.

If you think you may have a claim, please call our transvaginal mesh attorneys at 800-243-1100.

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