terson’ s surgeon it will go away in a week and he implanted it anyway,” O’ Brien told jurors.
He argued that Covidien continued to provide surgeons with outdated information from an earlier bovine collagen coating even though Covidien knew the newer porcine collagen coating used in Symbotex was resorbed much sooner.
“ They knew that it did not last anywhere close to the 30 days they were telling surgeons,” O’ Brien argued.“ They were telling surgeons what they wanted to hear.”
For Patterson, the alleged failure of that protective barrier was not an abstract design or labeling issue. O’ Brien said the Symbotex mesh adhered to Patterson’ s small bowel and caused an obstruction. Patterson required additional surgery in which his bowel was opened and repaired, several inches of intestine were removed, and the mesh was taken out. According to O’ Brien, Patterson continues to face the possibility of major abdominal surgery in the future.
Patterson was 61 at the time of trial and both Larry and Tammy Patterson testified about the physical, emotional, and financial effects the injuries had imposed on their lives.
“ This is a substantial verdict for the substantial damage caused to this wonderful man and his wife,” O’ Brien said following the trial.“ The jury found this company concealed the truth about Symbotex and then hit them with the consequences.”
The Defense the Jury Rejected
Covidien denied the Pattersons’ allegations. The company maintained that physicians were adequately warned about the
A jury returned an $ 88 million verdict against Medtronic in a bellwether case over injuries allegedly caused by the company’ s Covidien hernia repair mesh products.
mesh’ s risks and argued that Patterson’ s medical history and other risk factors, rather than a failure involving the device, caused his injuries.
O’ Brien said the defense also focused heavily on the conduct of Patterson’ s physician and Patterson himself.
“ One of the key things was that they blamed the patient and they blamed
the doctor, and the jury rejected that,” O’ Brien said.“ Their defense was essentially that it did not matter if the mesh was dangerous because the doctor made a mistake and, if the jury did not believe that, the patient caused his own harm because he was obese and diabetic. That was their main defense, and the jury flat-out rejected both of those arguments.”
The jury ultimately found for the Pattersons on their negligent failure to warn and concealment claims. The $ 77 million award to Larry Patterson and $ 11 million consortium award to Tammy Patterson were entirely compensatory.
The $ 88 million verdict represents the highest award in the approximately 20-year history of hernia mesh litigation. O’ Brien said he was not surprised by the size of the jury verdict:“ They had their team of experts come in and testify, and not one of them could contradict or dispute that the harm to the Pattersons
“ THEIR DEFENSE WAS ESSENTIALLY THAT IT DID NOT MATTER IF THE MESH WAS DANGEROUS BECAUSE THE DOCTOR MADE A MISTAKE AND, IF THE JURY DID NOT BELIEVE THAT, THE PATIENT CAUSED HIS OWN HARM BECAUSE HE WAS OBESE AND DIABETIC.”--TIM O’ BRIEN
and the disruption of their lives was nothing short of catastrophic. They did not breathe one word to fight the damages in the case.”
One Trial in a Large MDL
The Covidien MDL was created to coordinate federal lawsuits involving common allegations about the design, testing, manufacturing, marketing, and labeling of the company’ s hernia mesh products.
The Master Long Form Complaint serves as an administrative pleading set-
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