WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

HUNTINGTON -- Another lawsuit has been filed by a woman who claims she's been permanently injured by a medical product made by a New Jersey company.

Rebecca Smith filed a lawsuit July 27 in Cabell Circuit Court against C.R. Bard Inc., related to a product called Avaulta Anterior and Posterior BioSynthetic Support Systems.

Eight other plaintiffs sued C.R. Bard over the same product recently in U.S. District Court and another Ohio woman filed a May lawsuit against the company.

Smith says she was implanted with the product, which is a type of surgical mesh, during a surgery performed by Mitchell E. Nutt, M.D. at St. Mary's Medical Center.

Nutt also performed the surgeries in the other lawsuits.

The products were implanted in Smith to treat her pelvic organ prolapse, the same condition suffered by the other plaintiffs.

Smith says as a result of the surgery, she's suffered significant mental and physical pain, permanent injury and deformity, the loss of a bodily organ system and has undergone and will have to undergo corrective surgeries.

The type of product in question was part of a health notification in 2008 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which warned that some patients could develop complications.

Smith is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Paul T. Farrell Jr. and Lawrence J. Tweel are representing Smith. The case is before Cabell Circuit Judge F. Jane Hustead.

Cabell Circuit Court case number: 09-C-627