Women who suffered life-altering impacts from pelvic mesh implants have won compensation in a $105m settlement with multinational Boston Scientific, the third manufacturer to be sued over the scandal in Australia.
An estimated 150,000 Australian women received surgically implanted transvaginal mesh, most commonly to treat pelvic prolapse or stress urinary incontinence, both common complications of childbirth.
For many women, the devices had catastrophic impacts. Women were left in severe and chronic pain; the mesh caused infections and complications, and was near-impossible to remove.
In 2019, law firm Shine Lawyers won a class action on behalf of 1,350 women against manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, a landmark case watched closely across the world.
Since then, two more manufacturers have faced class actions, Astora Women’s Health and Boston Scientific. On Wednesday, Shine Lawyers announced it had reached a settlement worth $105m with Boston Scientific, about 16 months after proceedings began.
The firm’s class actions practice leader, Rebecca Jancauskas, said in a statement that the agreement would provide women with the compensation they needed.
“Some women implanted with a vaginal mesh or sling, to treat prolapse and incontinence issues, experienced significant complications,” she said. “This settlement agreement will provide these women compensation that may be used to support their future treatment needs.”
Boston Scientific was approached for comment. The settlement is not an admission of misconduct or liability by the company. The court also made no finding of liability against it and Boston Scientific has previously denied the allegations made in the case.
One of the key plaintiffs in the Boston case, Deborah Stanford, received the Obtryx sling in 2012 to reposition her bladder, which was sitting in her birth canal.
She woke from the surgery and soon knew something was wrong. Stanford needed to go to the toilet close to 15 times a day and was using six to seven incontinence pads daily.
She has since had eight additional surgeries to try to fix the problem.
In a statement issued in March last year, Stanford said she had endured nine years of suffering after the surgery.
“If I knew how hard this was going to be, I never would have gone through it,” she said.
“I had to go on Palexia, it’s 80% stronger than morphine, but that’s what was given to me to manage the pain.”
Revision surgery in 2016 left her with just 15% of her bladder function, meaning she then struggled to go to the toilet at all.
“The most basic bodily function is for people to go to the toilet comfortably, and I can’t even wee some days,” she said.
She suffers dyspareunia and requires full-time care. The pain made it impossible for her to work.
The case against Boston Scientific alleged it was negligent, that the implants were defective and not fit-for-purpose, and that information and warnings given by the company failed to properly tell doctors and users of the nature and severity of the risks.
The case alleged that the implants caused “significant and sometimes severe and life-altering complications, including erosion and chronic pain”.
“Nobody can live a full life if they are in severe pain, every day,” Jancauskas said last year when the case was first brought. “There are few painkillers that exist that allow you to function normally and manage the agony that pelvic mesh can cause.
“Like all women suffering mesh-related injuries, these women need to be heard and compensated.”
