Scotland's Daily Record Reports on Reckless Charges by US Attorney to US Mesh Makers

Mesh News Desk, February 21, 2016 ~ While it is across the ocean the Daily Record and Sunday Mail (here) and Scottish reporter Marion Scott continues to follow the mesh controversy in the U.S. - more closely than any mainstream US media. This Sunday, Scott follows the Carlino trial that just concluded in Philadelphia witha $13.5 million jury verdict for Sharon Carlino.

Scott points out that this was the first trial for the TVT made by Ethicon, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The TVT (transvaginal tape) is one of the most used in Scotland and Scott writes these plaintiff positive outcomes may be giving hope to the hundreds of women in Scotland who have filed similar actions against mesh makers in that country.

Carlino's attorney Shanin Specter told jurors in Philadelphia that Ethicon had been "beyond reckless." Adam Slater, said: “This trial shows that these damages are meaningful to jurors. The manufacturers have completely failed to convince the jury that the injuries caused by this mesh are mild or acceptable.”

Ethicon faces at least 42,400 product liability cases around the world for its family of pelvic meshes used in women to treat prolapse and incontinence.

BBC, Pelvic Mesh Hearing, Scottish Parliament Committee, June 2014

It was the work of Scottish Mesh Survivors' Hear Our Voice campaign that spoke directly to Parliament and prompted a safety review of pelvic meshes. Last October, the country's health secretary said three of four mesh devices will no longer be routinely used in hospitals.

The TVT will only be used as a last resort after a multi-disciplinary consultation.

Marioin Scott, Reporter of the Year, April 2015

Marion Scott was awarded as Reporter of the Year in 2015 in her country for her unrelenting front page stories of mesh injured women who took their awareness campaign to the Parliamentary committee.

In Scotland, lawyer Cameron Fyfe represents nearly 400 women in civil actions against mesh makers. Scott reports it is the biggest civil court action Scotland has ever seen. #

LEARN MORE:

Legal Intelligencer on the Carlino trial, Feb. 20, 2016

http://www.thelegalintelligencer.com/id=1202750224437/Pelvic-Mesh-and-Risperdal-Trials-Show-Punitive-Damages-Impact?slreturn=20160121224638