Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
National

Women With Transvaginal Mesh Implants To Share $21.5 Million In Settlement

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 04 Mar, 2020 08:26 PM

    TORONTO - A group of Canadian women who suffered ill-effects from implantation of a medical device called transvaginal mesh will receive a total of $21.5 million in compensation under a proposed class-action settlement, court records show.

     

    The settlement, between the women and Boston Scientific, involves about 325 women who received the implants. Their share of the money would depend on the severity of their medical issues.

     

    In approving the class definition and method for reaching out to class members, Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Perell noted the settlement is similar to another recently approved class action involving the mesh. Final approval of the current action is expected in June.

     

    The net-like implants are used to treat conditions such as stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse. The implants are designed to reinforce a weak vaginal wall or support the urethra or bladder neck. The polypropylene mesh is widely used. However, many recipients have had an array of serious side effects.

     

    Boston Scientific is the Canadian subsidiary of its Delaware-based parent and is the sole distributor of the company's transvaginal mesh devices in Canada. The product has been implanted in thousands of Canadian women.

     

    The lead plaintiff in the class action, Susan Vester, suffered painful complications from her implant. Court documents show she was given the device in January 2010 as a way to prevent incontinence — an operation about 25,000 women a year have in Canada.

     

    Among other complications, Vester said she suffered urinary problems, difficulty walking, emotional stress and pain during sexual intercourse. She argued she was unaware of the risks before the surgery and would have refused the procedure had she known.

     

    Vester and her husband sued Boston Scientific, alleging the devices were defective and unsafe. Among other things, they argued the mesh was negligently designed and sold, and that recipients had required intensive surgical interventions to try to alleviate the side-effects.

     

    The company maintained her complaints were the result of pre-existing medical conditions, not the mesh. It denied the product caused the problems about which the women complained.

     

    After initially refusing to do so in 2015, Perell certified the lawsuit as a class action in February 2017.

     

    "There is some basis in fact that the polypropylene mesh in each of Boston Scientific's transvaginal devices has a clinically significant deficiency," Perell wrote at the time. "Boston Scientific's arguments based on an alleged multiplicity of differences between the products, patients, and the complications, do not negate the commonality of the proposed common issues."

     

    The settlement also applies to about 20 or so women who've had the implants since the action was certified, and they have 60 days to opt out. Boston stopped selling the devices for treating pelvic organ prolapse last July.

     

    Daniel Bach, the Vesters' lawyer, said his clients were happy with the settlement, in which Boston Scientific admits no liability.

     

    "This agreement will enable members of the class to receive compensation for the injuries they allege," Bach said.

     

    In an earnings call last month, the U.S. company's chief financial officer said Boston was working to resolve litigation over the mesh. More than 95 per cent of known claims were settled or were in the final stages of settlement, Dan Brennan said. He said the company expected to pay US$115 million into settlement funds this year.

     

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Prepare For New Coronavirus Like An Emergency, Health Minister Advises

    OTTAWA - Health Minister Patty Hajdu is encouraging Canadians to stockpile food and medication in their homes in case they or a loved one falls ill with the novel coronavirus.    

    Prepare For New Coronavirus Like An Emergency, Health Minister Advises

    Ontario Confirms New Case Of Coronavirus, Patient Had Travelled To Iran

    Ontario Confirms New Case Of Coronavirus, Patient Had Travelled To Iran
    TORONTO - A woman in her 60s who recently travelled to Iran has become the fifth person to contract the novel coronavirus in Ontario, as the province's monitoring of the virus widens.

    Ontario Confirms New Case Of Coronavirus, Patient Had Travelled To Iran

    Assisted Dying Bill Gets Mixed Reviews, Raises Fears Of More Restrictions

    Assisted Dying Bill Gets Mixed Reviews, Raises Fears Of More Restrictions
    Bill C-7, introduced Monday, would remove a provision in the four-year-old assisted dying law that restricted the procedure to those whose natural death is "reasonably foreseeable" — a restriction that was struck down as unconstitutional by a Quebec court last fall.

    Assisted Dying Bill Gets Mixed Reviews, Raises Fears Of More Restrictions

    Trudeau Uses Speech To Pitch African Envoys For UN Security Council Seat

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken Canada's campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council directly to African diplomats with a speech that tried to emphasize his boyhood connection to the continent.    

    Trudeau Uses Speech To Pitch African Envoys For UN Security Council Seat

    Peter Nygard Steps Down From Company Following Sex Assault Claims

    NEW YORK - Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard is stepping down as chairman of his company following an FBI raid on his Manhattan headquarters over sex assault allegations.    

    Peter Nygard Steps Down From Company Following Sex Assault Claims

    New Brunswick Maintains Position On Abortions And Canada Health Act

    New Brunswick Maintains Position On Abortions And Canada Health Act
    The New Brunswick government is standing firm on its position that it's not violating the Canada Health Act by refusing to fund out-of-hospital abortions in the province.    

    New Brunswick Maintains Position On Abortions And Canada Health Act