Winnipeg, MB: The story of a Canadian woman who likened her transvaginal mesh to “a cheese grater” has spurred the provincial Minister of Health in Manitoba to push her federal counterpart for action. Christine Asprey, who hails from Winnipeg, is a 49-year-old mother of four who has been in excruciating pain for more than a year.
“It’s like a cheese grater,” Asprey told the Winnipeg Free Press this past January. “Every time I move it’s taking pieces of tissue off.” Believing that removal of the mesh can’t be performed in Manitoba, Asprey is reported to be soon undergoing surgery for her tvt sling in California, at significant expense. Friends and family are reportedly spearheading a fundraising campaign and have launched a foundation in an effort help raise the $30,000 needed for Asprey to have her painful mesh removed.
Asprey is not alone. According to the Winnipeg Free Press (3/14/13), at least 1,000 women in Canada have either launched a transvaginal mesh lawsuit or have expressed interest in joining a class action.
For her part, Minister of Health for the Province of Manitoba Theresa Oswald is set to press her federal counterpart in Ottawa to review the use of transvaginal mesh - and to ensure that doctors and surgeons are properly adhering to a safety notice issued in 2010 by Health Canada with regard to transvaginal mesh complication.
“I would, without a doubt, be wanting to make note of the situation that is happening here in Manitoba to my federal colleague, and to make an inquiry as to whether or not there is further review being undertaken,” Oswald said in comments published in the Free Press, “just given the growing intensity and number of individuals who are experiencing discomfort.”
The Federal Health Minister for Canada is Leona Aglukkaq.
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