Eight lawsuits filed over same health care product

CHARLESTON – Thirteen plaintiffs in eight separate lawsuits pending in federal court are seeking damages after women claimed they'd suffered adverse effects from a type of mesh implanted to help with a pelvic condition.

The plaintiffs sued C. R. Bard Inc., a New Jersey company, in U.S. District Court earlier this month over products called Avaulta Anterior and Posterior Biosynthetic Support Systems.

The products are a type of surgical mesh used to keep pelvic organs in place in women suffering from pelvic organ prolapse – a condition that can follow childbirth or surgery.

Mitchell Nutt, M.D., was responsible for all the surgeries, the lawsuits say, which took place at St. Mary's Medical Center in Huntington.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a public health notification in 2008 regarding the use of surgical mesh in treating pelvic organ prolapse, citing over 1,000 reports of complications.

All the female plaintiffs say in the complaints they've suffered significant mental and physical pain and suffering, deformity, loss of a bodily organ system and the need for corrective surgeries.

Five of the female plaintiffs are married and say the product has interfered with physical relations with their husbands.

The husbands are seeking damages for loss of consortium.

The plaintiffs are all West Virginia citizens, according to the complaints.

The plaintiffs are: Angela and Eric Stroud; Patty and Rodney Lewis; Louella and Sam Perry; Martha Martin; Charlotte and Marshall Deal; Pamela Hatfield; Rayetta Baumgardner; and Beulah and Albert Stephens.

Each of the plaintiffs is seeking punitive damages and compensatory damages on counts of negligence and strict liability related to alleged design and manufacturing defects.

Brett J. Preston is representing the Strouds. The remaining plaintiffs are represented by Paul T. Farrell and J. Robert Rogers.

The cases are assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers in Huntington.

U.S. District Court case numbers: 3:09-cv-484, 485, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528 and 529