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The case will accrue interest and is expected to exceed $7 million when its is finally awarded.
Closing arguments in the case were heard last Tuesday and jurors have been deliberating since then. When they could not reach a conclusion on Friday, they were told to return Monday to see if they could agree.
Trevino, 61, a municipal employee in Hawaii, was implanted with a Bard Ventralex hernia mesh in 2008 and years later it had to be surgically removed along with a section of his bowel. Trevino says he is disabled after nine surgeries to deal with fistula formation around the mesh and chronic infections.
Jonathan Orent (Motley Rice) told jurors the Ventralex patch can buckle and contract, which causes internal injuries. He also argued that Bard sought a non-medical grade polypropylene to make the Ventralex in order to cut costs.
Jurors were shown emails among company executives to keep secret the end product from the polypropylene supplier after the supplier specifically warned the polypropylene was not to be used in implantable devices.
Jeff Scott of Greenberg Traurig told the six jurors and three alternates that Ventralex is still on the market and has helped the vast majority of patients using it.
Courtroom View Network was the only camera in the courtroom and generously shared its access with Mesh News Desk!
Background
At one point, Trevino spent 40 days in the hospital hooked up to a wound vac. Jurors were shown images of a buckling ring inside the Ventralex and experts explained why the mesh is a heavyweight small pore hernia mesh that traps infection and shrinks as it scars over.
Orent said 4,000 patients have been hurt by the device in the last three years alone, and among those with a Ventralex, one in four have had another surgery to have it removed.
Ventralex is coated with an anti-adhesion layer, yet it was found to have attached and eroded into Mr. Trevino’s bowel.
The defense argued that Ventralex is still on the market and has helped thousands of patients.
Often playing the game of “blame the defendant” they pointed out co-morbidities such as Trevino’s weight, and hypertension and suggested he was not a compliant patient.
The case was closely watched as the first state trial in Rhode Island, home of Bard, where approximately 15,000 cases are awaiting a trial date.
In federal court in Ohio, another 15,000 cases are gathered in multidistrict litigation, also naming mesh manufacturer Bard.
The case is captioned Paul Trevino, et al. v. Davol Inc., et al., case number PC-2018-8437 in Providence/Bristol County Superior Court.
