MAR 23, 2021
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – March 23, 2021 - Attorney General Alan Wilson today announced a multistate settlement with Boston Scientific Corporation (Boston) to resolve allegations of deceptive marketing of its surgical mesh products for women. The settlement requires Boston to pay $188.6 million to 47 states and the District of Columbia to resolve allegations that it deceptively marketed transvaginal surgical mesh devices to patients. South Carolina’s share of the settlement is $5.5 million. The settlement resolves the State’s claims over deceptive marketing, not individual claims by women who were harmed.
"Even though any surgery comes with risk, our complaint alleges that Boston Scientific misled women in South Carolina and across the country, which led to significant health problems," Attorney General Wilson said. "Our office is constantly working to protect the people of South Carolina from deceptive marketing like this."
Surgical mesh is a synthetic woven fabric that is implanted in the pelvic floor through the vagina to treat common health conditions in women such as stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. These are common conditions faced by women due to a weakening in their pelvic floor muscles caused by childbirth, age, or other factors. Although use of surgical mesh involves the risk of serious complications and is not proven to be any more effective than traditional tissue repair, millions of women were implanted with the devices and thousands of women are alleged to have suffered serious complications resulting from these devices.
The complaint alleges that Boston misrepresented the safety of these products by failing to disclose the full range of potential serious and irreversible complications caused by mesh, including chronic pain, voiding dysfunction, and new onset of incontinence.
The settlement provides comprehensive injunctive relief. Under the terms of the settlement, Boston is required to:
Marketing Reforms:
Training Reforms:
Clinical Trial Reforms:
The investigation that resulted in today’s settlement was led by California and Washington along with Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. Joining this multistate settlement are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the complaint is here and the stipulated judgment submitted for court approval is here.
For media inquiries please contact Robert Kittle, [email protected] or 803-734-3670
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