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 Jurors awarded Deborah Barba $25 million in compensatory damages,
and an additional $75 million in punitive damages, according to
lawyers for Barba.
The 51-year-old Newark, Delaware-resident was implanted with Boston
Scientific's Pinnacle and Advantage Fit mesh products in 2009, to
treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence,
according to her 2011 lawsuit. The devices caused serious
complications, she said, and despite two subsequent surgeries to try
to fix the problems, parts of the devices are still in her body,
continuing to cause pain.
Following a two-week trial, jurors deliberated for about seven hours
before finding Boston Scientific had been negligent in designing and
making the devices and that it had failed to warn patients and
doctors about potential risks.
Fidelma Fitzpatrick, one of Barba's lawyers, said Thursday that mesh
complications had "profoundly changed" Barba's life, and that she
hoped the size of the verdict would persuade Boston Scientific and
other mesh makers to settle the remaining cases.
A Boston Scientific spokeswoman said the company strongly disagreed
with the verdict and intends to appeal.
Thursday's verdict is the largest one yet in litigation over
transvaginal mesh devices against Marlborough, Massachusetts-based
Boston Scientific or any other mesh manufacturer. The company
announced last month it had reached agreements to pay about $119
million to resolve 2,970 cases about transvaginal mesh.
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The verdict is the sixth so far against the company by women who say
that the devices are poorly designed and use subpar materials,
resulting in painful physical injuries such as bleeding, infection
and pain during sex. Boston Scientific has denied that the products
are defective or that it failed to warn about potential
complications.
Last year, Boston Scientific won the first two trials against it,
before losing three in a row, including a $73.4 million verdict for
a woman in Texas, which was later reduced to $34 million, and
back-to-back trials involving groups of four women in West Virginia
and Florida.
Boston Scientific is among seven manufacturers that collectively
face an estimated 100,000 lawsuits over transvaginal mesh devices in
U.S. federal and state courts. Other major defendants include
Johnson & Johnson ’s Ethicon unit, and C.R. Bard.
(Reporting by Jessica Dye in New York; editing by Alexia Garamfalvi,
Grant McCool and Richard Chang)
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