Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: Bob Binstock, Attorney at Law
Profession: Defective Medical Device Attorney

Category: Mesh Patch Lawsuits

The recent recalls of the Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch has resulted in numerous lawsuits being filed against Davol, the maker of the recalled patches. In 2005 the first recall was made for the defective patches, but this has been recently expanded to include other sizes and shapes of patches. Basically a hernia is protrusion of internal organs or tissue through a weak area in the abdominal wall, during surgery the man made mesh material was placed inside the hernia, which allows for extra support of the abdominal wall.

The patch was absolutely revolutionary at the time of its introduction, but there soon would be a problem. It turns out that the memory recoil ring that allows the patch to lay flat against the abdominal wall after being placed in through a small incision, is prone to breakage. This has caused serious injury in many cases including bowel perforation and even death.

There have been such an abundance of cases filed as a result of this allegedly defective patch that a judge recently consolidated all of the cases to Rhode Island for pretrial proceedings. With thousands of plaintiffs united against them Davol is going to be in for a serious battle in the upcoming months.