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American Medical Systems (AMS) has sent a settlement letter to 692 women who claim mesh-related injuries. These are women represented one of the settlement counsel.
There are at least 100 law firms representing injured women who have been encouraged by Judge Joseph Goodwin, who oversees the federal cases, to reach a settlement.
The AMS settlement is voluntary and applies to those procedures documented in your medical records on or before December 12, 2014, the date the settlement was reached.
This morning Mesh News Editor, Jane Akre, received a call that even revealing any specifics of the settlement agreement by AMS will discourage others from making any offers to settle outstanding pelvic mesh cases. AMS is watching this column and cites the confidentiality agreement that is in place. Although no individual settlement has been revealed, the company does not want the specifics disclosed. As a result, this story has been revised.
Because it has always been the focus of Mesh News Desk to do what is in the best interest of the injured community, for both transvaginal and hernia mesh victims, this story is being altered. The specifics of the settlement will not appear. Consult with your individual law firm about which "Tier" of injury you fit into.
What we can say is that there are currently 19,712 AMS defective product lawsuits consolidated in one federal court in Charleston, West Virginia, not including those filed in various state courts.
AMS litigation represents the second highest number of product liability lawsuits filed in this court behind Ethicon (Johnson & Johnson). AMS admits no fault in offering any settlement. Judge Joseph Goodwin has cited AMS as the leader in offering settlement dollars to those women injured by transvaginal mesh. He has encouraged other companies who are holding out and opting for protracted litigation to follow the lead of AMS.
AMS- are you watching? As you know, your settlement dollars will never be enough. They don't begin to make whole women damaged by your product, which at best, was experiment and highly speculative. Clearly the product is not working in a large number of patients and should not ever be a "Gold Standard" for anything. The collateral damage is just too high. No one can predict who will be adversely affected. No expert doctor can assure a woman she will not have complications.
AMS- will you offer an apology to those injured? It might go a long way to admit you made a mistake.
Other law firms are trying to work out details of a settlement and MND does not want to impede that progress. Clearly it is preferable over beating up an already injured woman in court, though the jury may decide she deserves millions, it will be a long time before she sees that award.
What we can say is that there are 692 AMS claimants who will be the recipients of this settlement, overseen by the Laminack, Pirtle & Martines LLP law firm of Houston. AMS has agreed to a settlement amount to which there must be at least 90 percent agreement by claimants. Additional reserve monies are being set aside in case there is any change in an individual’s settlement category.
You are encouraged to discuss your specific injuries with your law firm to see which "Tier" you fit into.
Judge Joseph Goodwin
The settlement agreement was reached with the help of a Special Master, the Honorable Susan S. Soussan. Judge Soussan has been a district court judge, special master in mass tort cases, a mediator an arbitrator.
Last May Judge Joseph Goodwin assigned Judge Marina Corodemus to be the Special Master between AMS and certain plaintiffs’ counsel (ie Motley Rice, Levin Simes, Blasingame, Burch). See the order here.
The job of a Special Master is to help resolve disputes that arise from the categorization and processing of any claims based on the facts and circumstances of an individual's situation.
The amount each claimant receives depends on their evaluation.
Look for a Special Needs Trust to be set u so the monies are not considered an asset and are protected from Medicaid and disability reimbursement.
In February, Boston Scientific announced it would buy Endo’s AMS medical device unit for $2 billion. Endo acquired AMS for $2.9 billion in 2011. Last April, the company announced it had reached $830 million settlement to resolve a number of pelvic mesh cases.
AMS is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Endo International is based in Dublin, Ireland with U.S. headquarters in Malvern, PA.
Endo/AMS products include the ElevateTM Anterior and Posterior Pelvic Floor Repair System and the Monarc® Subfascial Hammock.
In January, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration ordered AMS to conduct post-approval studies on women who had received the pelvic organ prolapse and mini-sling implants to monitor them for complications. AMS received 19 orders but has honed that down to sixteen “for various commercial reasons” says its filing.
AMS took its Apogee and Perigee pelvic organ transvaginal mesh (TVM) off the market and in doing so it relieved them of the FDA mandated post-market monitoring. #
Learn More:
Pelvic Mesh Litigation- Is AMS Watching?
AMS Master Settlement Reached, Mesh News Desk, September 2014
