John W. entered St. Mary’s Hospital in June 2004 for what was described as a routine operation to repair a ventral hernia using the large oval Composix Kugel Mesh. A year and a half later, John began experiencing severe abdominal pain with cramping and bowel difficulty. He returned to the surgeon who performed the hernia repair to be told that the Kugel Mesh hernia patch needed to be removed. When John complained of symptoms consistent with bowel obstruction, his surgeon decided to take x-rays of his abdomen. The surgeon concluded that the Kugel Mesh patch needed to be removed. His doctor, a well-respected general surgeon had read reports of problems with the Kugel Mesh patch. The next day, John went in for surgery to have the patch removed. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of his problems. Since that time, John has had to endure the pain and suffering of three additional surgeries due to the complications and bowel perforations caused by the defective Kugel Mesh hernia patch. John had no idea that the patch used to repair the hernia had a defect that caused it to break when placed in the abdominal cavity. In fact, the Kugel Mesh hernia patch was later recalled. The recall was prompted by a problem with the “memory recoil ring” that opens the Bard® Composix® Kugel® Mesh patches. The recoil ring can break under the stress of placement of the large sized products in the intra-abdominal space. This breakage can lead to bowl perforations and/or chronic intestinal fistulae.
John continues to suffer from what should have been a fairly routine procedure. Yet, this 50 year old man lives in constant pain with astronomical medical bills from four follow-up surgeries. His immune system and digestive system are still in a weakened state and he is unable to work and provide for his family. His young children wonder what happened to there once strong dad. His wife worries about the bills and the health and future of her husband whom she now has to care for.
John and his family continue to suffer because a medical device company didn’t disclose what it knew about the problems with its Kugel Mesh patch. Instead of taking responsibility for the defect, it blamed doctors and tried to argue that inexperience and poor surgical procedures resulted in problems with the patch. Yet, the truth is the Kugel Mesh hernia patch is a defective product that is dangerous and hurt many, many unsuspecting patients. Doctors are also the victims in this tragedy. They were never told of the medical device’s defects.