A group of SA lawyers is launching a class action over defective trans-vaginal mesh devices which have caused women worldwide to suffer.

The decision, notes Business Day, follows a legal victory in Australia two years ago.

RH Lawyers and Richard Spoor Attorneys will bring the lawsuit against Coloplast, the Nu-Angle Group, Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon and Ashanti Medical.

Zain Lundell, a class action specialist at RH lawyers, said thousands of South Africans deserve justice, after the devices which were supposed to make their lives more comfortable, brought them pain.

‘We are going ahead with the class action. This is due to the rising concerns over the use of pelvic mesh devices following complications suffered by a number of women who have been implanted with the devices,’ Lundell reportedly told Business Day.

‘The decision comes in light of a landmark ruling out of the Federal Court of Australia in November 2019, wherein it was found that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries Ethicon Sarl and Ethicon had, among other things, misled patients and surgeons about the risks associated with their pelvic mesh products,’ he said.

‘Based on the number of pelvic mesh surgeries we have received from medical aid companies, we estimate at least 1 000 women are affected,’ said Lundell.

But Ethicon said that risks could occur and no class actions were pending around its pelvic mesh products.

‘Patient safety is our first priority. Pelvic mesh has helped improve the quality of life for millions of women with stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse,’ it said.

It said Ethicon acted ethically and responsibly in the research, development and supply of these products and the majority of women with pelvic mesh see an improvement in their day-to-day lives.

Full Business Day report