When clinical negligence occurs it can very often be painful, distressing and embarrassing. This is especially the case when medical negligence occurs following treatment for gynaecological conditions.
It is embarrassing enough having to go to the doctors with a problem down below without having a resulting treatment making matters infinitely worse. Incontinence is one of the problems that women can face as a consequence of pelvic organ prolapse or traumatic birth. It is often unspoken about.
Who has had it?
It would appear, however, that more than 92,000 women have received a vaginal mesh implant between 2007 and 2015 as a result of these problems .
What is it ?
This treatment is simply a synthetic net inserted into the vagina and the “mesh” is secured in place to prevent the prolapse and, hopefully, prevent the incontinence.
However moves are afoot to get MP’s aware of the problems and to get this particular procedure “vaginal mesh implants” bannned outright.
What’s the cause ?
What’s the cause ?If you have been unlucky enough to experience pelvic organ prolapse resulting in incontinence, then a vaginal mesh implant is often offered as an effective treatment. This comes about as a consequence of the uterus, vagina or even the bowel or the bladder prolapsing.
Whilst these conditions aren’t necessarily life threatening, they are certainly life altering. The condition is often more common in women over 50 or those who didn’t do any exercise during pregnancy or post postnatal.
Complications are unfortunately common
Unfortunately, a vaginal mesh operation is a more complex procedure than at first sight. The mesh can erode inside the body. Complications can ensue and the mesh can fail totally or partially or the original prolapse finds a point outside the mesh and bulges out .
Women slowly become aware and often feel discomfort during sexual intercourse. Sometimes their partners can feel that something is wrong.
Dr Ahmed Ismail from the Queensway Gynaecology Clinic was recently quoted as saying, “Erosion of the vaginal mesh failure is rare at just 10%, given that 92,000 women in England alone between 2007-2015 who received this operation”. That means that there are potentially 9,200 women out there who have a failed vaginal mesh procedure.
I am not sure I would describe those kind of numbers as particularly rare myself.
What should you do ?
What should you do ?Anybody who is worried about the possible failure of the vaginal mesh should immediately contact their GP. A simple examination can determine whether or not the mesh has failed. I also wonder how many mesh failures and complications are unreported due to embarrassment or, indeed, the mesh failure is itself misdiagnosed.
One thing is for certain, rather like incontinence, you shouldn’t suffer in silence. You should seek appropriate medical treatment.
Who can help?
Gynaecological medical malpractice is not as uncommon as one might think.
We have a successful clinical negligence department, we’ve recently recovered a 5 figure settlement for a Manchester woman who suffered significant psychological trauma after a botched operation to remove retained products after a miscarriage.
Likewise, we’ve had a number of cases of mis-diagnosed ectopic pregnancies; this resulted in emergency surgery weeks after scans, which should have shown the ectopic pregnancy. Scans were wrongly interpreted- leading to life threatening conditions for a number of young women.
If you are in any doubt as to whether or not you have suffered at the hands of medical negligence, please do not hesitate to contact us for expert, no obligation, advice. Please visit www.treadstonelaw.co.uk or contact email claim@treadstonelaw.co.uk
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