Case evaluations for hernia mesh lawsuits involve determining whether the potential client underwent hernia mesh repair surgery, whether he or she suffered injuries as a result of a defective mesh product, and whether the statute of limitations has expired.
Several different hernia mesh implants made by several different manufacturers have been the subject of numerous FDA recalls and several more are currently under investigation. These recalls are the result of:
- poorly designed mesh,
- improperly made medical devices,
- unsuitable packaging, and
- bad marketing.
As a result of the defective mesh implant, patients have sustained health complications. If you have sustained an injury, too, due to defective hernia mesh or due to the negligence of another person or entity, then you may have a hernia mesh case.
Our personal injury and product liability attorneys understand your concerns. Below is a guide to help you understand what a hernia mesh case may look like and help you identify if you may have a hernia mesh case yourself.
- 1. On what basis can a hernia mesh lawsuit be brought?
- 2. Did you have hernia repair surgery and was a mesh product used for the repair?
- 3. Did you suffer adverse events (such as injuries) after the hernia repair surgery?
- 4. Was your injury caused by the hernia mesh implant?
- 5. Did you experience compensatory damages that can be quantified in monetary terms?
- 6. When should you contact a personal injury attorney for a free hernia mesh case evaluation?
1. On what basis can a hernia mesh lawsuit be brought?
There are two legal theories used to bring hernia mesh lawsuits against a medical professional or manufacturer (or any other entity or person along the supply chain) of a mesh product:
- Negligence; and
- Strict Liability.
Negligence is a claim based on the duty of care and the defendant’s breach of that care, which leads to an injury. Strict liability, on the other hand, is a claim based on a defect of the product, and due to that defect, the plaintiff was injured. In both cases, there must be an injury and the injury must have resulted in monetarily quantifiable damages.
Your case — if you have one — can be based on one or both of these legal theories. It will be dependent on the unique facts or circumstances of your situation.
2. Did you have hernia repair surgery and was a mesh product used for the repair?
Did you have hernia repair surgery? If yes, was a mesh product used?
Answering in the affirmative to both these questions is the starting point to understanding if you have a hernia mesh case. It establishes a relationship between:
- you,
- the medical professionals, and
- the manufacturer (as well as anyone else or any other entity along the supply chain) of mesh implants.
This established relationship means there was a duty of care also between you and the medical professionals as well as the mesh manufacturers (and anyone else or any other entity along the supply chain).
In negligence cases, a duty of care is required to establish fault and liability. In product liability cases — where the negligence claim is based on a product — a duty of care refers also to the duty of the designer, manufacturer, or other entity along the product’s supply chain to create, make, and/or supply a safe product and to warn of any foreseeable and non-obvious dangers.
In strict liability cases, a duty of care does not need to be established because the designer or manufacturer of a product, like hernia mesh, is liable regardless of fault.
3. Did you suffer adverse events (such as injuries) after the hernia repair surgery?
To be able to file a claim on the basis of negligence and/or strict liability, you must have suffered an injury. There are many adverse events that have been linked to hernia repair surgery using mesh, and these include the following injuries:
- Adhesion
- Abdominal pain
- Bowel obstruction
- Infections
- Migration
- Perforation of organs or tissues
- Seromas
- Chronic pain
- Mesh failure
- Recurrence of the hernia following mesh surgery
- Groin and testicular pain
- Delayed and/or long-term consequences.
If you have suffered any of the above adverse events, then it may have been caused by a defective mesh product.
4. Was your injury caused by the hernia mesh implant?
Side effects of hernia mesh repair surgery are common. These include things like infection and hernia recurrence. It does not necessarily mean that you have a claim just because you experienced a complication. In order to have a claim, you must have been wronged somehow, and in hernia mesh lawsuits, this wrong is almost always a defective implant.
Defective hernia mesh implants to date, either already investigated or under possible investigation, include:
- Atrium Medical C-Qur mesh
- Covidien Parietex, including Composite Parietex and ProGrip mesh systems
- C.R. Bard Ventralex ST implant
- Davol/C.R. Bard Kugel mesh
- Ethicon Physiomesh
- Gore Medical Gore-tex mesh
- Genzyme Biological Sepramesh systems
For both negligence and strict liability cases, if you are to pursue a hernia mesh lawsuit, the mesh device must have been or must be proven as defective in order to win your case.
If, however, you are pursuing a negligence case, in lieu of a defective mesh product, the duty of care owed to you must have been otherwise breached.
For example, maybe during surgery, the surgeon inadvertently left a surgical tool inside the wound area. This act would be a breach of the surgeon’s duty of care to you and would have led to an injury, including infection, severe pain, organ obstruction, among other things, which are all adverse events known to hernia repair surgery.
Thus, identifying the link between the surgery and the breach is important in hernia mesh lawsuits.
5. Did you experience compensatory damages that can be quantified in monetary terms?
An injury is one thing, but in order for you to be able to be compensated for it, you must have accrued damages that can be related in terms of dollar bills. This, however, does not limit your compensation to medical bills alone. You are entitled to compensation for both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are those damages that already have a value attached to them, like:
- medical bills,
- past and future lost wages, and
- future lost earning capacity.
Non-economic damages are those damages that do not already have a value attached to them, but will have one applied either through settlement negotiations or by a jury. These damages include:
- pain and suffering,
- loss of consortium,
- loss of enjoyment,
- mental anguish, and/or
- permanent disabilities, impairment, or disfigurement.
For both negligence and strict liability claims, you can recover both economic and non-economic damages, so long as:
- in negligence cases, you prove a duty of care, the duty was breached, the breach was a direct and proximate cause of your injury, and damages resulted.
- in strict liability cases, you prove the mesh implant was defective, the defective product was the direct cause of your injury, and damages resulted.
6. When should you contact a personal injury attorney for a free hernia mesh case evaluation?
You should contact a personal injury or product liability attorney for a free case evaluation if the above questions were answered affirmatively or if you have questions and are unsure about the answers to the above questions. At Shouse Law Group, we will thoroughly evaluate your situation and advise you of your options.
We have law offices located throughout California and in Nevada and Colorado. We will provide honest answers to your questions and concerns. Contact Shouse Law Group for a free hernia mesh case evaluation.