Products Liability Law Reporter

Linda Dunfee, 49, suffered from pelvic organ prolapse. She was implanted with the Prolift repair system in 2007 to address these issues. Although she was initially fine after the surgery, in 2009 she complained of dyspareunia and spotting. Dunfee’s physician diagnosed erosion of the pelvic mesh, which had entered the vaginal cavity through the vaginal wall. Three years later, Dunfee suffered a second, more severe, erosion. She subsequently underwent explantation of the Prolift; however, some of the mesh remains inside her body, causing her continued pain.

Dunfee and her husband sued Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, a purported subsidiary of Ethicon, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, alleging strict liability design defect. The plaintiffs claimed that the trocars used to insert the pelvic mesh were defective in that they required tissue penetration in nerve-rich environments; the system used cannulas to insert mesh arms, which rolled and became distorted; the amount of mesh used in the Prolift system was excessive; and the mesh’s pore size was too small, blocking pelvic tissue from growing through the mesh and creating a chronic inflammatory response. The plaintiffs did not claim past lost income.

The jury awarded $500,000 in compensatory damages, including past and future medical expenses.

Citation: Dunfee v. Ethicon Women’s Health & Urology, No. 151002736 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. Phila. Cnty. June 28, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Elia Robertson, Philip Pasquarello, Thomas Kline, Lorraine Donnelly, Charles Becker, Lee Balefsky, and Andra Laidacker, all of Philadelphia; and AAJ member Michelle Tiger, Newtown Square, Pa.

Plaintiff experts: Daniel Elliott, urology, Rochester, Minn.; and Richard Bercik, urogynecology, New Haven, Conn.