Ethicon Physiomesh Lawsuits Explained

If you or someone you know had a hernia mesh implanted between 2010 and 2016 and later experienced severe complications, you may be entitled to substantial compensation.

The Ethicon Physiomesh, a commonly used hernia repair product, was voluntarily taken off the market by its manufacturer Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson.

Ethicon continues to maintain that the Physiomesh was not recalled, even though they withdrew the product from the market due to various complications.

What’s Wrong With Ethicon’s Hernia Mesh?

Ethicon Physiomesh is a mesh used by surgeons to repair abdominal wall hernias, including umbilical hernias and ventral wall hernias. Unfortunately, Physiomesh has lead to more hernia re-openings, additional surgical procedures, and infections than other meshes.

Physiomesh is made of nonabsorbable polypropylene and is coated on both sides with a poliglecaprone film to prevent the mesh from incorporating with the abdominal wall, on one side, and the patient’s bowels on the other.

Over time, however, the poliglecaprone can absorb into the body and off of the polypropylene. When this happens the bare polypropylene is exposed to the bowels and other underlying organs and can erode through those organs and cause significant damage.

What’s more, doctors claim that the poliglecaprone makes Physiomesh more difficult to sterilize and as a result, hernia patients who receive Physiomesh are much more likely to develop serious infections than patients who receive other meshes.

Complications that have been associated with Physiomesh include:

• Chronic pain
• Infection
• Adhesion
• Mesh migration
• Reopening if the hernia
• Other serious complications

Many of these complications require the patient to undergo additional surgical procedures.

Physiomesh Lawsuits

Lawsuits are now being filed against Ethicon claiming that the manufacturer marketed Physiomesh as being “safe and effective” when in fact it creates “an unreasonable risk of severe adverse reactions”, many of which could have and should have been predicted by the manufacturer before the product was offered to the public. In addition, these lawsuits allege that Ethicon failed to sufficiently warn the public of the risks associated with the use of Physiomesh and the severity of the likely side effects

If you have suffered any of the complications mentioned above after having the Ethicon Physiomesh implanted between 2010 and 2016, you may be owed significant compensation from the manufacturer. Contact an experienced defective medical devices lawyer for a free and confidential consultation and to find out if you qualify.