C.R. Bard, the manufacturer of Avaulta transvaginal mesh device, agreed to settle on the second Avaulta transvaginal mesh lawsuit to go to trial in a West Virginia federal court last week. The plaintiff alleged her implanted Avaulta transvaginal mesh caused her injury and complications, forcing her to undergo six surgeries.
Settlement terms between the company and the court were not released. Scott Lowry, a spokesman for C.R. Bard, said the settlement only covered this particular case, and not the thousands of pending lawsuits against the company.
The settlement between C.R. Bard and the plaintiff comes just over a week after a West Virginia federal court reached a verdict on the first Avaulta transvaginal mesh lawsuit to go to trial, in which C.R. Bard was ordered to pay out $2 million to the plaintiff.
“C.R. Bard is facing thousands of lawsuits over their Avaulta transvaginal mesh, which allegedly caused extensive organ and tissue damage in the plaintiffs who were implanted with the device. Now, the company must accept responsibility that their product is potentially dangerous to consumer health,” commented Robert Price, a product liability lawyer with the Levin, Papantonio law firm.
The Avaulta transvaginal mesh device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) using a fast-track approval process known as 510(k). The expedited process does not require formal review of a product’s safety, and has allowed many controversial products, which were later recalled, to be introduced to the market.
Avaulta transvaginal mesh lawsuits against C.R. Bard and other medical device manufacturers have been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in Charleston, WV. Two other Avaulta lawsuits are set to go to trial in October, Bloomberg News reported.
Krysta Loera is a writer and researcher for Ring of Fire.
