In October 2024, multinational medical company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced it had reached a settlement to resolve the vast majority of US lawsuits concerning serious harms allegedly linked to the company’s hernia mesh products. The settlement is expected to resolve about 38,000 lawsuits filed in US federal and state court and will result in hundreds of millions of dollars being paid to American patients who have suffered mesh injuries.
Siskinds LLP are not counsel on this settlement. It is being reported that the settlement covers US cases filed in US federal and state courts.
The settlement marks a major victory for plaintiffs in the grand scheme of North American litigation concerning BD’s hernia mesh devices, which comprises tens of thousands of claims alleging that the company’s surgical mesh designed for hernia repair is defective and causes major injuries.
Lawsuits allege that manufacturers knew that hernia mesh degrades, harms body
For close to two decades, C.R. Bard aka “Bard” (a company acquired by BD in 2017) and certain related subsidiaries have been the subject of individual lawsuits and class actions brought on the basis that the manufacturers knew that their hernia mesh products – devices intended to be placed under or over hernias to act as scaffolding for new growth of a patient’s own tissue – have been linked to various forms of defects and injuries, such as hernia recurrence, pain, mesh erosion and migration, scarring and adhesions, and systemic infection. Bard hernia mesh devices include Sepramesh, Composix, Parietex and ProGrip brand products, among others.
In the US, most current Bard hernia mesh litigation is being pursued through consolidated or multidistrict litigation (MDL) – a process where actions pending in different courts are transferred to a single court for streamlined proceeding. Around 25,000 cases have been filed in an MDL in an Ohio federal court by US patients allegedly injured by Bard hernia mesh devices. Over 10,000 additional Bard hernia mesh cases are consolidated in a state court in Rhode Island.
The settlement announced on October 2, 2024, is expected to resolve nearly all lawsuits filed in Ohio and Rhode Island – about 38,000 cases, all involving American victims. Although the exact figure to be paid to plaintiffs remains confidential, BD stated that the amount allocated for the settlement will be a “large majority” of the company’s $1.7 billion reserve allocated for product litigation.
Settlement is the biggest resolution of hernia mesh claims in North America to date
The new settlement announced by BD will mark the biggest payout to injured patients in North American hernia mesh litigation to date and is the latest in a series of examples of significant compensation achieved for plaintiffs in hernia mesh litigation in the US and Canada this decade.
In the US, large amounts have previously been awarded to individuals in the Bard consolidated proceedings. Two plaintiffs in the MDL in Ohio were awarded $250,000 and $500,000, respectively, and a plaintiff in Rhode Island was awarded $4.8 million in the first state court trial.
In Canada, Siskinds led a team of firms that negotiated an agreement to end class proceedings regarding a competitor hernia mesh product, Physiomesh, in favour of a settlement process that saw an initial round of compensation be paid to over fifty Canadians, with a second round forthcoming for dozens more people in Canada who had hernia mesh repairs and suffered harm.
Canadian hernia mesh victims: Stay informed
Siskinds LLP represents plaintiffs in class action lawsuits against several hernia mesh manufacturers, including Atrium, Bard, Covidien, and their affiliates, on behalf of Canadians who suffered serious injuries and complications from their products. If you have been affected, contact us at herniamesh@siskinds.com or visit our hernia mesh landing page and complete the form at the bottom to stay informed.