MAM rally in Charleston WV
Mesh News Desk, June 2, 2015 ~ A rally by mesh-injured women gathered in Charleston, West Virginia today as lawyers from both sides of the issue converged for a status conference before the judge overseeing more than 76,000 defective product cases.
Mesh Awareness Movement brought about 20 women, their husbands and friends from Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and beyond to join in solidarity and send a message that pelvic mesh should not be allowed to continue to injure unsuspecting women and that mesh manufacturers need to financially care for the women they’ve harmed.
Pelvic mesh, used to shore up pelvic organs, was never approved for safety or efficacy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Instead it was approved by the FDA 510(k) approval process that does not require any clinical trials.
Husband protests
Beginning in the late 1990’s, pelvic mesh was fashioned from hernia mesh and the polypropylene was marketed by seven manufacturers who are facing defective product lawsuits consolidated in this federal court. There are more than 76,000 cases here before The Honorable Judge Joseph Goodwin. Manufacturers are facing more than 100,000 cases nationwide.
Campaigner in WV
“Exciting” is what women told Mesh News Desk today. All of the television stations were here and we will be featured on their noon news. Finally we are getting the attention we deserve and the message is getting out,” said organizer Lisa Mason.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers filing into Charleston court.
The women tell MND that lawyers representing plaintiffs fave a thumbs up as they filed into the building for a status conference called by Judge Goodwin who wants these cases settled. Lawyers for manufacturers gave a thumbs down to the crowd which numbered around 20. One woman had her surgery scheduled for today but opted to be in Charleston instead.
Here are some of the images from today.
Catch the news coverage on the local ABC and CBS television stations in Charleston, WV.
Background
Pelvic mesh, made of polypropylene, is still used by many doctors as a first line treatment to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) though it is falling out of favor, doctors tell MND, because many doctors are being sued for medical malpractice. The FDA in 2012 said complications from mesh are “not rare” after a five fold increase in adverse event reports to the agency.
In trials conducted so far, the failure to adequately inform the doctor about the risks of mesh have seen the doctor side with the plaintiff. Many meshes have been found to be defectively designed and the risks underplayed in trials so far.
Boston Scientific was ordered to pay a mesh-injured woman $100 million dollars in a Delaware trial concluded just last week.
Today’s status conference before Judge Goodwin will be held in open court with individual manufacturers negotiating behind closed doors with Judge Goodwin.
Mesh makers with cases consolidated in this multidistrict litigation include Johnson and Johnson (Ethicon), Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard, Cook Medical, Covidien, Coloplast and Neomedic.
American Medical Systems has begun the settlement process with plaintiffs though some awards after legal fees range around $20,000. #
Learn More:
Tell Charleston media you care about the issue and watch their noon coverage. List of media outlets here.
One owner owns 7 radio stations in town:
Gazette-Mail (SUN) gazette@wvgazette.com
1001 Virginia Street East
Charleston, WV 25301
3043485100
Charleston Gazette (AM)
1001 Virginia Street East
Charleston, WV 25301
3043485140
Charleston Daily Mail (PM)
1001 Virginia Street East
Charleston, WV 25301
3043484830
WCHS-TV8 (ABC affiliate)
1301 Piedmont Rd.
Charleston, WV 25301
3043465358
info@wchstv.com, news@wchstv.com
WOWK-TV CH 13 (CBS affiliate)
13 Kanawha Blvd. W., Suite 300
Charleston, WV 25302
3043431313
WCAW-AM 680
OWNS SEVEN STATIONS IN TOWN!!
111 Virginia Street, East
Charleston, WV 25301
3043428131
WJYP-FM 100.9
P O Boxc 8600
South Charleston, WV 25303
304-744-5388
WSCW-AM 1410
P O Box 8600
South Charleston, WV 25303
304-744-5388
This brings tears to my eyes. I can’t thank you all enough for standing up for us! Thank you, Thank you!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart ladies.
Thank You All For Giving Us A Voice Love To You All My Mesh Sisters <3
Can anyone provide a list of the Plaintiff’s attorney names who are present and their respective firms?
Just needing same info.
I have Williams and Kherkher in Houston.
Never hear much
I have Gallagher Law Firm in Texas. Never hear anything unless I send an email or call.
I’m so glad. I need help with removal an and a tiny lump between rib an hip feels like something real small like . I’ve tried for fifteen years to get anyone too listen. This is a blessing for us treated like we are insane. Been mine. Dr. Or others. Put on disability, had to sell my trucking business for chump change to an been suffering income,divorce,sex life an everything unimaginable. I want my health back. Thank God I Pray for Us All.
thank you all for standing up for all of us and especially us who are hurt so bad we can’t be there or those of us who have been devastated financially and can’t be there you are in my prayers today I know judge goodwin wants all these settled but please judge don’t expect us to take pennies when we deserve so much more for a settlements that’s the problem right now even those who say they’re willing to settle will not come up with a decent settlement for any of those women god bless you girls each and everyone of you and Jane
God Bless all of the ladies who were able to attend this rally. Maybe now our voices will be heard. Hats off to the media for covering this story of suffering for thousands of women. It’s a glimmer of light in the dark Mesh tunnel so many of us are trying painfully to navigate. Hopefully more media will join us in this fight for justice. Beyond time for the world to hear our story.
Amen!!
Thank You so much Ladies for standing up for all of us. Yes Thank You Thank you Thank You!
Ladies, we are with you in spirit! Thank you and God bless you!
Thank you Jane for this website! Thank all you ladies who put forth so much effort to be present and represent thousands and probaby hundreds of thousands of women horribly injured, many permanently. I am happy to see at least the local media is covering this and will do my part to contact these above stations to let them know this is a worldwide travesty. I am too severely injured to make the trip but am there in spirit! May something really good come from this conference today and women and then the men get not only surgical help but follow up to rebuild their bodies to deal with the aftermath of this horrible product. May the FDA do the right thing and reclassify this “medical device” to a Class III high risk device, or better yet, take it off the market. Save thousands and thousands of people from suffering, PLEASE!!
Thank You all who were able to do this. This is a great start to have our voices be heard. So grateful to all of you!
Thank you so much Judge Goodwin and his team.
Thank you to the families and victims. I pray for you all. G-d bless everyone who made the trip and blessings to Ms. Mason and Jane, and to all of the plaintiff attorney’s and their teams.
Thank you to the assignment editors for sending the crews to the courthouse for the coverage. It’s a start..a long time in the making.
Many hugs to all of the ladies who were able to make the trip as I know how hard it was and is to put forth the effort.
did anyone attend the open meeting or just stand outside with signs?
They went inside in the afternoon to listen to the status conference….. can’t wait to hear what they found!
Thank you to those who took time and were able to attend. I wonder how long before we know what was said!
Thank you very much ladies! It’s hats suffering alone. No one understands!
Thank you guys for standing up for us. I planned to attend but I am bedridden with back and stomach pain so I could not make the 5 hr drive. I so wanted to meet you all. I am so proud of you! Thanks and God bless us to get this settled soon!
Thanks….it was Awesome. All the ladies were full of LOVE….attys giving thumbs up……I’m so thankful to be yhwr….Jane we love you…..be blessed my mesh sisters….
So unselfish Thank you
THANK U, THANK U, ALL the courts, the attorneys firms, MR. HONORABLE JUDGE GOODWIN, the staff, and Ms. Jane . All the ladies that stood for us sick ladies that couldn’t come. May God be with us all. I love u all. THANK U ISNT ENOUGH!! GOD BLESS AND AMEN
justice will be served when this is viewed as a national crisis. Cant believe Bard settled 500 cases for 21 million. They really got off cheap and the women who where victimized got whats left after all the attorneys involved. What does that equal? Not even a years pay and the saddest of all is that they cannot hold a job anymore and social security disability does not even recognize mesh implants as a chronic condition.
Finally; Thank God!
I have said for years, that this Heinous act against women should have been brought to the forefront of every t.v. station in the world.
CBS NBC ABC FOX NEWS Dr.Zo, Dr.Phil, Oprah.
Our lives to the manufacturers, are nothing.!
THE PROOF is in the piddly amount they want us to settle for.
So proud of all of you for sticking up for all woman!! Now we have websites to report news on our conditions…………….not liking the idea that one of AMS settlement was $20, 000!!
Thank you, God bless all of you.
Thankyou ladies for being our voices!! So what did the courts accomplish ? What does today solve! Only a few cases here and there will there ever be a end to these cases ? Sad fast to make a buck from our issues but tight wallets when it comes to paying for damage to our health and lives shame on you mesh companies!
I thank u about the comment on news across the nation’s. Talk about cars everytime the news is on. Where and why hasn’t it been on the news is unreal. Dr. Phil help us. It needs to be on the news. We are H U M A N S not rides. REALLY. I even texted Diane Sawyer about this. No response none. We don’t count we just suffer and die. Yeap
Did any coverage appear in print? Anywhere…….
Janis, yes. Go to wvmetronews.com
We made print!!!!
I think what the defendant corporations want is to force us into trial (If we do not die or commit suicide first) if we refuse to settle for some shameful compensatory dollar amount. That way (Trying to think as they do) even if we prevail they can simply appeal indefinitely evidently. If that is how the appeal process works it alone is a travesty of justice. Clearly they are highly skilled at manipulating the law in untenable ways. No honorable attorney would work for such a corporation. I must assume their counsel is just like them. I would be interested in knowing where these attorneys went to law school and what their class standing was and how many attempts they had to make to pass the Bar. Also, listen up defendant counsel, I understand you uniformally gave a “Thumbs down” to protesters outside of Judge Goodwin’s offices yesterday. That speaks volumes about the quality of your character. We will continue to be present, we will continue to picket and protest, we will continue to seek media attention and we will send letters to every OBGYN, Urologist and medical group in this nation and others “speaking truth to power”. We will unite with hernia wounded men and seek the support of NGO’s and other organizations, we will seek funding from charitable trusts and we will bring you down long before your friends at big oil are no longer able to suck black oil out of the earth. We will also unite and donate a percentage of compensatory damages to a fund to support these efforts long after we are gone.
Bejah
Dear Jane, That was lightening fast turnaround. You are on fire! All who attended this “Settlement Conference” in support of plaintiffs…thank you for your heroic presence. We need more attending in the future and that will draw the media.
BTW people, lets not call ourselves “ladies”. It is very sweet but it is time for us to call ourselves women because the word women is empowering, the word “ladies” is not. Language is very powerful. Having studied linguistics I know this and many of you do also, if not most. After this is over we can go back to calling ourselves ladies. Now we are in a war and we might call ourselves “Warriors” as some in our community have (A nod to the women who coined the term “Mesh Warriors” ).
I am overjoyed that you are all so happy about this day but remember this is only one small battle. We still have the war ahead of us. We need to try to be on the offensive and make tactical movements. We must strike at the core of these organizations: Their brand. That is how to really bring them to their knees. We also need the media so that we can enhance the awareness of the American people, not just about this issue but the way these corporations restrict freedom of the press which is a much broader issue, not less important but overarching. These are the people who want to do away with the US Constitution and they will try to do it while we are busy doing something else. These are the people who initiated the TORT reform that is hurting us and benefitting them. We need to wake up. Our lives depend on it.
Remember, especially those of you who are hurting the most. the Father has not forgotten us, has not forsaken us but will be with us until the end of time.
Bejah
Well said and so very true! Thank you
I arrived home yesterday from the rally after a very long and exhausting journey. By the time I got home, was barely able to walk and collapsed into my bed for some much needed rest, still holding onto the smile in my heart that lingered from meeting all the amazing women who stood side-by-side in loving support of one another during this intensely emotional rally. I want to thank you all with all my heart for allowing me to be a part of this powerful event that I will carry with me forever. My heart was truly touched by those present physically and spiritually. Also, I want to sincerely thank those who answered the call for donations to make this event possible, I am deeply grateful. I know, because of ALL of you, we ARE making a difference! THANK YOU!
Thanks Lisa! I so wished I could have been there. Thinking about going to the next trial in WV though. I’m feeling a little better. Anyone attending? Lisa take it easy and get some rest. Well deserved! If we ALL write to Dr. Phil and maybe we can ask his wife Robin to do help him do the show. More letters gets his attention and I think he is filming his new season right now. Lets all make a pledge to write. I will write again. Thanks everyone! God bless!
I went to the first show “Dr Phil” ever did. We were going to be in town and it was one that fit into our schedule. I do not like those things, they herd you in like cattle, it is very loud, and I found the production a little gaudy and offensive. But I digress…IMHO I do not think Dr. Phil has what it takes to take on this issue, and it is not really his decision, it is his producer, his network, his manager (How will it effect his career) and so much. Hollywood is very political and fickle. It is easy to get blacklisted which is why (probably) no one will touch this subject…yet. We need someone more independent, edgy, independent. If we want mainstream networks someone like the woman on MSNBC who does very edgy coverage of world events…can’t recall her name, or Jon the commedian who does a politically charged comedy show which I think is on the Comedy Channel but he has a very broad audience. I would like to see a panel discussion with big draws like Bill O’Riley (sp?) on the far right…so far right one wonders how he does not fall of his chair…contrasted with a strong supporter who is very knowledgeable…this could happen on a PBS channel if presented right or maybe even one of the big three networks. But Br. Phil does things by the book and who has their wife in the audience every day…what is that about? I did not get a warm engaging feeling from him, maybe his was nervous on his first day of taping. Also, I have mentioned LINK TV before. We could approach them and be well received I think but communication should be professional and a letter, not an email IMHO. Sorry, I don’t mean to be bossy, I just get wound up like a top when this subject is in the air. Please forgive me for that.
Bejah
I pledge to write a letter so will my family…
I was planning on being there as I only live a little over two hours away but I just could not make it. My understanding was my case was one being heard, however having said that I get little info. I would tell them that I no longer live I exist just waiting to die my life has falling apart mentally and physically exhausted just laugh and smile when others are looking and cry and pray to die every and any moment I get. Does anyone know what happened or what is going to happen? I would love to meet other woman involved in this please help me
Hi as a mesh victim myself going through surgeries and constant pain and am now on antibiotics probably for life I’m told, as I start to see settlements I was wondering if anyone has really received money? Thanks hope everyone finds some comfort from this terrible situation we are in. Deb