Fitch reaches a multistate settlement with Boston Scientific Corporation

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A $188.6 million multistate settlement with Boston Scientific Corporation (Boston) was announced Tuesday by Attorney General Lynn Fitch.

The settlement with Boston is to resolve deceptive marketing allegations against its surgical mesh products for women.  In the settlement, Mississippi will receive $2,191.090.

Surgical mesh is a synthetic woven fabric. The mesh is implanted into the pelvic floor to treat conditions in women such as urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Due to a weakening in the pelvic floor muscles caused by childbirth or other factors, these conditions are common among women.

Boston allegedly misrepresented the safety of the products and failed to disclose all the risk factors caused by it. Some of the risk factors and complications included chronic pain, voiding dysfunction and a new onset of incontinence.

“Women and their doctors deserve to have all the information needed to make informed decisions for their health,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “By failing to disclose critical safety warnings about their devices, Boston Scientific subjected thousands of women to serious and often irreversible complications. This settlement makes clear that we will not allow the health and safety of Mississippi women to be placed in jeopardy by those who put profit over patient.”

Boston is now required to use understandable terms to describe complications in certain marketing materials and disclose significant complications, such as the inherit risk that comes with the mesh itself. Boston must also refrain from making misleading representations, such as stating the risks of the mesh are common to any pelvic floor or other surgery not involving the mesh. They are also required to inform healthcare providers of significant complications when training for procedures for insertion and implantation.

The states that joined Mississippi in the multi-state settlement were: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.