New Jersey Jury adds $7.76 Million in Punitive Damages to $3.35 Million Ethicon Prolift Vaginal Mesh Verdict

New Jersey Jury adds $7.76 Million in Punitive Damages to $3.35 Million Ethicon Prolift Vaginal Mesh Verdict
Today the Atlantic City jury in Linda Gross v. Ethicon found that Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon Division was guilty of culpable negligence in disregarding health of patients in pursuit of profits in the marketing of the Ethicon Gynecare Prolift transvaginal mesh implant. This verdict sends a message to medical product manufacturers that jurors will not tolerate a company that puts corporate greed above the safety of the public. The $7.76 million in damages to punish the company was in addition to the $3.35. million that the jury awarded Monday to compensate for the injuries that were caused by the mesh.
Linda Gross had suffered horrible pain and injuries when the transvaginal mesh that was implanted in her moved and shrank damaging her body. She has endured multiple painful surgeries to try to remove the mesh and fix the damage done to her body. The Gynecare Prolift mesh was marketed as safe and effective to treat pelvic organ prolapse but had never been clinically tested before the marketing campaign to doctors. The evidence at the trial demonstrated that Ethicon mislead doctors about the degree of testing that had been done and that Ethicon concealed emerging evidence that the Prolift product was unsafe. The Prolift was finally recalled last year after the FDA ordered the manufacturers to conduct a proper study on the safety of the device.
There are thousands of other lawsuits pending around the United States involving the Ethicon Prolift as well as other transvaginal mesh products (TVM) manufactured by Bard, Boston Scientific, American Medical Supply (AMS) and Coloplast. The FDA has ordered all of these companies to conduct safety studies on their TVM products.
All of these TVM products were marketed under the 510(k) loophole in the FDA regulations that allow manufacturers to “grandfather in” a new product because it is similar to a product already on the market. This is so even though the products already on the market have never been proven to be safe or effective. This is the same loop hole that allowed the widespread sale of metal on metal hips such as the DePuy ASR, Zimmer Durom Cup, Wright Converse, Stryker Rejuvenate ABG II, and Biomet Magnum without any clinical testing. There are thousands of lawsuits pending by hip implant patients with failed hip implants with these products as well.