Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Patients undergoing any surgical procedure are under a great deal of uncertainty and stress, often putting their full trust in medical personnel and devices to relieve major symptoms. The deceptive marketing practices by this company created even greater pain and stress for patients in Florida and nationwide. I am proud of my office for taking lead in this case and hope that the strong injunctive relief our coalition has secured will prevent this from happening again in the future.”

This is the third major multistate case against a mesh manufacturer that was resolved with the Florida Attorney General’s Office leadership. The first two cases involved Johnson & Johnson, and its wholly-owned subsidiary Ethicon, Inc., and C.R. Bard, Inc., resulting in strong injunctive terms and payment of more than $176 million nationwide.

Surgical mesh is a synthetic woven fabric that is implanted in the pelvic floor 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. A significant percentage of women implanted with surgical mesh have suffered serious complications, including erosion of mesh into organs and pain.

The complaint alleges that BSC misrepresented the safety of these products by failing to disclose the full range of potential serious complications, including chronic pain, voiding dysfunction and new onset of incontinence.

The agreement provides comprehensive injunctive relief. Under the terms of the agreement, BSC is required to conduct the following actions: