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Kugel mesh from Bard website
According to an article in Lawyers and Settlements lawsuits are still being filed against the maker of the Kugel Hernia Mesh.
Mesh manufacturer C.R. Bard offered a $184 million settlement more than three years ago to some 3,000 Kugel mesh implanted patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began the Kugel recall in 2005 and followed up with two more in 2006 and 2007.
Some patients may be experiencing delayed complications which can include pain, infection, hernia recurrence, sepsis, adhesion, bowel obstruction, according to the FDA.
The first Kugel hernia mesh lawsuit resulted in a $1.5 million award to plaintiff Christopher Thorpe and sometime after that the mesh manufacturer agreed to the larger settlement. Product liability claims alleged the Kugel mesh was defective because the memory recoil ring broke or could break causing fistulas and abscesses and punctures in the patient’s abdomen.
After the FDA recall, the Kugel mesh was allegedly made stronger and put back on the market.
See Trudy Thomas’ story on her Kugel mesh patch and removal as well as litigation problems here.
Richard Howden had a hernia patch made by Ethicon and his life has never been the same. See the story here.
Many patients injured by Kugel mesh voice dissatisfaction to Mesh News Desk with how low their settlements ranged starting around $5,000. That may be due to the fact that plaintiffs' lawyers focused their defective product arguments on the ring inside the hernia product and not the mesh itself.
Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch Products Liability Litigation, case number 07-md-01842, US District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Dr. Bruce Ramshaw, the current president of the American Hernia Society tells MDND that he believe we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in hernia repair injuries to patients. With about a million procedures a year, even with a one percent complication rate, that leaves 10,000 patients a year with severe complications.
According to the FDA, the most common adverse events following hernia repair with mesh are pain, infection, hernia recurrence, adhesion, bowel obstruction. In some cases mesh can contract and migrate and perforate other organs or the bowel, causing sepsis.
Learn More:
FDA on Hernia Surgical Mesh Implants
FDA- Kugel Recall 2004
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/ListofRecalls/ucm062944.htm
Kugel Cases Still Being Filed
Lawyers and Settlements on Bard Kugel Mesh
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/lawsuit/kugel-mesh.html#.UjkfZD-nfTo
Hernia repair: Secrets Patients Should Know
