Petition for action on mesh
Awoman who experienced chronic pain from implanted surgical mesh wants the right to appeal complaint decisions after her case was essentially dismissed by the country’s only patient watchdog.
Renate Schutte suffered severe pain and autoimmune disorders after she had mesh inserted to correct stress urinary incontinence, a common complication of childbirth.
But when she complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) that she was not properly informed about removal of the mesh, the surgeon was reminded about better record-keeping, the HDC made “educational comment” and the file was closed.
Schutte, an environmental scientist from Auckland, claims she specifically asked the doctor before her 2012 surgery whether the transvaginal tape could be removed if required and was told yes.
The mesh, the subject of a successful class action suit in Australia against makers Johnson and Johnson, is complex to remove. Schutte had hers taken out in the United States in 2017. But in many cases it has eroded into tissue, creating serious injuries.
In New Zealand, a Medsafe report from 2018 found more than 1000 people had reported mesh issues.
The Auckland Women’s Health Council reported ACC had received more than 1018 treatment injury claims between 2005 and June 2018, with 771 accepted. Yet according to the surgical mesh restorative justice process last year, only 45 complaints had been made to the HDC and only three upheld.
Schutte said there was distrust of the HDC among mesh victims. Some had been “fobbed off by surgeons”.
Schutte has launched a petition to Parliament asking that MPS amend the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994 to give complainants and medical professionals or providers a right of appeal.
The Herald put questions to Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill and Minister of Health David Clark last week but neither responded.