Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $344 million in pelvic mesh case

US Judge on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $344 million for false and deceptive marketing of pelvic mesh products used by tens of thousands of women in California. The suit filed in San Diego was part of a series of claims made worldwide over mesh products which are designed to hold up the pelvic organs.   

Hid the potential dangers of the product

San Diego County Superior Judge Eddie Sturgeon ruled that the medical device company knew of potential risks and dangers of the products but still did not disclose them in the educational and marketing material provided to doctors and patients. The judge said that the complications created by the product could get so severe that the only solution left was the removal of the implant. He added that unlike other implants its removal could get really difficult and harmful taking multiple surgeries. The judge wrote, “Johnson & Johnson also knew that some of the most severe complications of mesh can be irreversible.”

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Many women who have used the product have reportedly complained of side effects like incontinence, infection, bleeding and chronic pain. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said that Johnson & Johnson knew the dangers of its mesh products but it valued its profit more than the health of women. She added that the ruling has achieved justice for millions of women who have been scarred for life by the brand’s dishonesty. 

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Becerra’s office sued the company in 2016 after a year’s long multi-state probe that concluded that the brand has been engaged in deceptive marketing. This isn’t the first time the company has been sued. It had previously settled similar claims in Washington DC for or $9.9 million and a coalition of 42 other states for $117 million. Globally, there are two million women who have implanted these mesh products in their bodies.  Between 2008 and 2014, the brand sold nearly 470,000 pelvic mesh products across the United States, including 30,000 in California alone.