Women sue over ‘barbaric’ implant

HUNDREDS of women in the UK are taking legal action over problems caused by vaginal mesh implants, which have left many in severe pain and some permanently disabled.

The plastic mesh is used to treat organ prolapse and incontinence, usually after childbirth. There are about 1 500 implants carried out in the UK each year to support the vaginal wall or nearby organs such as the bladder or bowel, according to the NHS.

In the majority of cases, the procedure works but more than 800 women who have suffered painful and distressing complications are suing the health service and manufacturers of the mesh. Kate Langley, who was admitted to hospital more than 53 times because of “agonising pain”, told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme the implants were “barbaric”.

“I could feel something really sharp every time I walked; it feels like something sharp is inside me,” she said. “The surgeon examined me and he could tell the (mesh) had come through my vagina. It had come all the way through and was protruding. It’s barbaric.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has received more than 1 000 complaints about the implants. There were 703 adverse incidents in the last five years. Carl Heneghan, a professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford, told the BBC that new devices were being clinically approved without the regulator examining them.

A number of women, including Claire Cooper, who said the pain and disruption caused by her mesh implant had caused her to consider taking her own life, have called for the implants to be banned. Lisa Woodrow said she had been in a wheelchair for 18 months after the operation left her unable to walk. – The Independent