Medtech to pay $100M+ in class action settlement

A settlement agreement for the sum of $105 million has been reached in the class action filed against Boston Scientific in March 2021 in the Federal Court, which sought damages on behalf of Australian women who received one or more pelvic mesh or sling implants.

Shine Lawyers’ class actions practice leader Rebecca Jancauskas, who ran the action, said “Some women implanted with a vaginal mesh or sling to treat prolapse and incontinence issues experienced significant complications.”

Boston Scientific is the third pelvic mesh manufacturer to face a class action in Australia over its range of prolapse mesh and incontinence sling implants, and the first to settle the proceedings brought against the company. Shine Lawyers filed the first two actions against Johnson & Johnson / Ethicon and Astora Women’s Health which are ongoing.

While the settlement agreement does not equate to any admission of misconduct or liability by Boston Scientific, Ms Jancauskas has welcomed the development.

“This settlement agreement will provide these women compensation that may be used to support their future treatment needs,” Jancauskas said.

The class actions against the mesh manufacturers arose after different mesh products were recalled from the market from 2017 and into 2018 and 2019, including three of the Boston Scientific’s own.

In early 2018, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) ordered Boston Scientific to add warnings about possible adverse side effects such as severe chronic pain, groin pain and bladder perforation. Later that year, a Senate inquiry concluded surgery with mesh, which it estimated had been performed on about 150,000 women in Australia, should be a last resort.

The Boston Scientific class action includes any person who was implanted with one or more of the mesh and sling implants listed below in Australia between 2005 and 1 June 2022:

• Pinnacle™ Pelvic Floor Repair Kit;
• Pinnacle™ Lite Posterior;
• Uphold™ Vaginal Support System;
• Uphold™ LITE Vaginal Support System;
• Upsylon™ Y-Mesh;
• Advantage™ Transvaginal Mid-Urethral Sling System;
• Advantage Fit™ Transvaginal Mid-Urethral Sling System;
• Obtryx™ Transobturator Sling System;
• Obtryx™ II Transobturator Mid-Urethral Sling System;
• Lynx™ Suprapubic Mid-Urethral Sling System;
• Solyx™ Single-Incision Sling System; and/or
• Polyform™