Medical mesh in stomach ‘slowly killing me’ – mum
AMOTHER-OF-THREE who had a medical mesh implanted into her stomach claims the device is “slowly killing” her and has left her in constant crippling pain.
Pauline Inch, from Barry, had the mesh inserted to support her stomach muscles after a routine operation to remove her gall bladder went “disastrously wrong”.
The 60-year-old said it is now “embedded” in her bowel, abdomen and surrounding organs – but she says no surgeon will attempt to remove it. She said she now suffers excruciating pain in her feet, legs and back, is unable to walk long distances, and couldn’t even hold her newborn grandchild.
“I don’t feel like I’m a human being anymore,” she said. “I can’t even look after myself because of what this mesh has done to me.
“It has robbed me of my life and my marriage.”
Pauline, who was a keen golfer, hiker and practised kung fu, had been married for just three months when she started getting pains in her stomach in 2000.
She was referred to the University Hospital Llandough (UHL) where surgeons carried out keyhole surgery to remove her gall bladder. But Pauline says they removed the “Hartmann’s pouch”, which sits at the junction of the neck of the gall bladder, by mistake. This led to her suffering a bile leak and contracting peritonitis, a life-threatening inflammation of the tissue that lines the inside of the abdomen.
“One moment I was having a routine operation and hours later I was fighting for my life,” she said.
After making a good recovery and being discharged from Llandough, Pauline said she suffered a hernia where the operation had been carried out. She said she then had an 8in mesh implanted into her by a Llandough surgeon to correct the hernia and help keep her stomach muscles in place. But she claims the mesh “wrapped itself around her bowel” and needed to be removed and replaced.
“I felt all right for a while but then I could feel it ripping inside me,” she said.
In 2003 doctors in Plymouth inserted a second mesh made out of a form of plastic known as polypropylene. But a decade later, in 2013, she claims the mesh had embedded itself into her stomach wall, part of her bowel, and surrounding organs.
She said she is now in so much pain that she has contemplated taking her own life but, she claims, because the procedures were carried out so long ago the period of time to lodge an official complaint has passed.
Pauline, along with many other “mesh victims”, travelled to Parliament in July for a special meeting organised by Owen Smith MP.
The meeting, which also included medical professionals, mostly focused on women treated with transvaginal mesh (TVT) for organ prolapse and stress-related urinary incontinence. Mr Smith said allparty mesh group will be set up after it was discovered that “many thousands” of women have been injured by the mesh.
In response, a spokesman from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “We acknowledge that Ms Inch has complained about surgery that was undertaken to insert mesh into her abdomen in a trust in England.
“We have undertaken two further surgical reviews of Ms Inch’s Health in recent years and advised, in line with clinical safety and sound clinical evidence, no further treatment is required based on the outcomes of these reviews.”
The Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman said: “We are extremely sorry to hear that Mrs Inch is experiencing problems. We had not previously been contacted regarding any issues but, after speaking with Mrs Inch today, our Patient Advice and Liaison Service are going to assist by initiating further investigation into her concerns.”