What Jurors Won't Hear

Due to Motions in Limine, that is, deciding what will and will not be presented to jurors in a trial, there are a number of things jurors won't hear in the defective product/ medical malpractice case of Budke v. Ethicon.

* Jurors in this product liability, medical malpractice case will not hear that Ethicon, a division of Johnson & Johnson, is facing more lawsuits than any other pelvic mesh manufacturer. (See mdl, Charleston WV) here.

* At this writing there are approximately 30,000 defective product cases filed in federal and state courts.

* They also will not hear that the Prolift System and three other pelvic meshes, were quietly removed from the market by J&J in 2012 for “business reasons.” Instead of selling the product in the U.S., Ethicon made the decision to sell it overseas. See Mesh News Desk story here. You could even still buy it on eBay. See Mesh News Desk story here.

An Ethicon spokesman said to Bloomberg:

“This is not a product recall and we continue to have confidence in the safety and efficacy of these products. Our decision to discontinue these products is based on their commercial viability in light of changing market dynamics, and is not related to safety or efficacy.”

* They will not hear that J&J launched the Prolift in March 2005, failing to file any application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, even a 510(k) exchange of paperwork. See more on 510(k) here. See more on sales under the FDA radar here.

* That Johnson & Johnson destroyed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to its pelvic mesh that were never produced under discovery rules, despite the fact the documents were on a litigation hold. See Mesh News Desk story here. The company is considered culpable under the law but it's never been punished.

* What they will hear is how Joan Budke, 77, suffered before she died.