The pelvic mesh scandal is one of the most despicable cases of corporate greed and lies combined with medical negligence in Australian history.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Hundreds of women are the victims of an appalling and horrific injustice.
Thankfully, Federal Court Justice Anna Katzmann ruled in favour of more than 1300 of these victims on Thursday in a class action against pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & Johnson and its companies Ethicon Inc and Ethicon Sarl.
After the judgement, Mesh Injured Australia said the companies had a "sell first, test later" attitude to the mesh implants, which were surgically implanted through the vagina.
The organisation stated emphatically that women had been used as "guinea pigs in a medical experiment".
The mesh products were implanted to treat stress urinary incontinence or uterus prolapse after childbirth.
Nine pelvic mesh devices were on the market from 1999 with little evidence to show they could be used safely, Justice Katzmann found.
In a chilling remark, Justice Katzmann said medical device approvals were "largely self-regulating".
The Therapeutic Goods Administration had cleared most of the nine devices without evidence of their safety.
The victims have suffered terrible, permanent injuries from the implants.
One victim, Justine Watson - the co-founder and president of Mesh Injured Australia - likened the mesh to "having a ticking time bomb in your vagina".
Ms Watson said these time bombs had caused families and careers to crumble under the pressure of mesh-inflicted health problems, as medical expenses mounted and incomes were lost.
These women had suffered complications such as chronic and acute pain, pain with sex, recurrent prolapse, haemorrhage, incontinence, sepsis and psychological injury.
She said these women need clinics and ongoing medical care and support. Many women had taken their lives rather than live in constant pain.
She added that there were many more victims in Australia than the 1350 involved in the class action. She estimated that 18,000 women in Australia had chronic illness caused by mesh.
"It is a health-care tsunami," she said.
Justice Katzmann noted the three companies involved had denied liability and "vigorously defended the cases".
She delivered a scorching criticism of their failure to protect patients and comply with the law. The three companies have 21 days to lodge an appeal. Ethicon said it was considering its options.
This class action could lead to one of the largest compensation payouts in Australian history. Let's hope it does. It's the least these women deserve.
ISSUE: 39,462.