Eight Separate Suits Filed Over Same Health Care Product

Thirteen plaintiffs in eight different lawsuits pending in federal court seek damages for the personal injuries and adverse effects women claim they suffered due to a type of mesh implanted to aid them with a pelvic condition.

Early in May, the plaintiffs filed suit against New Jersey-based C.R. Bard Inc. in U.S. District Court over products called Avaulta Anterior and Posterior Biosynthetic Support Systems.

The products in question are a kind of surgical mesh used in women who suffer from a condition known as pelvic organ prolapse, which can follow childbirth or surgery, in order to keep pelvic organs in place.

According to the suits, Mitchell Nutt, M.D., was responsible for all of the surgical procedures, which were performed at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia.

In 2008, a public health notification was issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the use of surgical mesh in treating pelvic organ prolapse. The notification cited more than 1,000 reported complications.

Each of the female plaintiffs claim the meshes have caused them to experience significant mental and physical pain and suffering, deformity, loss of a bodily organ system, and the need for corrective surgeries. Five of those plaintiffs are married and claim their physical relations with their husbands have been interfered with. Those husbands seek damages for lost consortium.

The plaintiffs in the suits are Angela and Eric Stroud, Patty and Rodney Lewis, Louella and Sam Perry, Charlotte and Marshall Deal, Beulah and Albert Stephens, Martha Martin, Pamela Hatfield, and Rayetta Baumgardner.