Progress invites criticism, and in surgery, innovation often begets litigation, as most every surgeon whose practice involves mesh-reinforced hernia repair can attest.

“The ads for hernia mesh lawsuits are everywhere, and if you Google ‘hernia mesh lawsuit,’ you’ll see ad after ad after ad for lawyers. We face it every day in our offices; it’s ubiquitous,” said Guy Voeller MD, at the 2021 virtual Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Conference. Dr. Voeller is a professor of surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in Memphis.

“But the problem with mesh in hernia repair is that we have to have it; trying to repair many hernias with suture alone is doomed to failure.”

Mesh is now the standard of care in hernia repair for its ability to reduce the rate of recurrence dramatically. But it’s also become a target for lawsuits. What started with a smattering of cases in the 2000s

C.R. Bard, Inc. is one of many medical device companies involved in large nationwide litigation concerning defective hernia mesh products. C.R. Bard, Inc. faces more than 25,000 lawsuits in state and federal courts, with the first trial in the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) fully underway.

Before trials begin in mass tort litigation, the parties propose what cases should go to trial first as a way of determining how a jury is likely to decide in a typical hernia mesh lawsuit. In the first bellwether trial, the plaintiff alleges that he suffered pain, inflammation, infection, and the need for revision surgery because of the defective and dangerous nature of C.R. Bard, Inc’s hernia mesh products.

A recent Kaiser Health News investigation, as reported by Modern Healthcare, demonstrates that medical device sales representatives for various products play a substantial role in patient injuries. Whether the medical device at issue is for a spinal procedure, a hip replacement procedure, or a hernia mesh procedure, a sales representative is likely standing in the operating room.