Scottish Official Resigned Before Official Inquiry into Pelvic Mesh

The Sunday Post, news and investigations, December 4, 2016

Mesh Medical Device News Desk, December 5, 2016 ~ Journalist, Marion Scott is back at her craft writing about the pelvic mesh scandal in Scotland, after leaving The Daily Record. Now she is writing for a new newspaper, the Sunday Post.

Scott reports that Dr. Lesley Wilkie, who headed the government inquiry into pelvic mesh and medical negligence, has quit just weeks before her final report was due to be published. The Wilkie report was two years in the making and the mesh-implanted community fear there may be further delays as a result.

The report was initially estimated to take six months to complete.

The Sunday Post

Elaine Holmes, of Scottish Mesh Survivors says the departure couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“We’ve spend two – and-a –half-years battling health professionals to have evidence included proving mesh implants have more side-effects in the long run than non-mesh surgical methods.”

Ms. Holmes spends most of her time in a wheelchair due to nerve damage after her pelvic mesh implant.

The group of activists fears Dr. Wilkie may have been unhappy with intrusion into the report by the medial establishment and the Scottish Government. Officially, Dr. Wilkie says she is leaving because of other commitments.

Since an interim report, published last year, three of four mesh implants were removed from Scottish hospitals, unless approved by a multi-disciplinary medical team.

In Scotland, more than 400 women claim the mesh implant, used to treat incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, has injured them some permanently. The former Health Secretary Alex Neil ordered a suspension of the surgery in June 2014, but some doctors continued to use them. About 2,000 Scottish women are implanted with a polypropylene mesh every year.

The industry-funded health department, MHRA, continues to insist the benefits outweigh the risk.

In September, the Scottish campaigners called on a criminal investigation into allegations that Boston Scientific used counterfeit raw materials obtained from China to make its pelvic mesh implants used on Scottish women. Houston Attorney, Steve Mostyn held a press conference at the Scottish Parliament.

Reporter Scott has consistently covered the mesh scandal and the campaigners who have taken their petition for change directly to Parliament. #

LEARN MORE:

Page One – Sunday Mail, June 22, 2104 – “Cheers and Tears as Health Secretary Suspends Operations”

Page Two – Sunday Mail, June 22, 2014 – “Health Secretary on Why He Suspended Mesh”

Watch the entire hearing before Parliament on BBC Democracy Live here.