Mentor ObTape Sling — Women Seek Justice

The Mentor ObTape Sling is a transobturator vaginal sling, which was manufacturer by Mentor Corporation and was implanted in thousands of women to treat Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI). Mentor’s ObTape replaced Mentor’s Uratape product. Uratape performed so poorly that Mentor quit selling it after an embarrassingly short time on the market. Mentor replaced Uratape with ObTape. Mentor’s experience with ObTape was equally as humiliating. Within four years of its launch in the United States Mentor abruptly removed the product from the market. Many women sued Mentor after suffering devastating complications from the product. (see below)

After Mentor’s experience with the failed Uratape and ObTape products, it promptly sold its urology lines to Coloplast in 2006. Coloplast is now the subject of numerous lawsuits arising from the sale of vaginal mesh products. In 2009 Mentor was acquired by Johnson & Johnson whose Ethicon subsidiary is also being sued by hundreds of women who suffered similar complications from vaginal mesh products it has sold.

The mesh bladder sling is designed to provide support to the vaginal wall, reinforcing the muscles that control the flow of urine.  Millions of women suffer from stress or urge urinary incontinence. Usually they are older and most have had several children weakening their pelvic muscles that support the bladder.  This may result in involuntary leakage during laughing, coughing and sneezing. The Mentor ObTape sling is similar to many of the vaginal, pelvic mesh products that are currently under investigation by the FDA.

Between 2003 and 2006, over 35,000 women worldwide received the defectively designed Mentor ObTape Sling.  Women who had Mentor’s ObTape implanted have suffered devastating complications including purulent vaginal discharge, extrusion of the tape into the vagina, rectum and bladder. Many of these women have undergone numerous surgeries and failed attempts to repair these vital organs. Some are left with scarred vaginas, total incontinence, the complete ability to have sex or if they can have sex it is extremely painful.

Symptoms of Ob Tape problems may include:

• Bloody, purulent, odorous discharge;
• Inability to have sex or extremely painful sex;
• Severe pain in the groin, pelvis, abdomen and legs;
• Recurrence of incontinence or inability to urinate;
• Vaginal Infections; and
• Scarred, deformed or mutilated vital organs such as the vagina, rectum or bladder.

In many cases, Mentor ObTape Sling complications have required multiple surgeries to remove it.  Even after surgery, women may be left with permanent and devastating injuries.

Since December 2008, all Mentor ObTape sling lawsuits have been consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia for pretrial proceedings.  The claims have been filed by women – and in some cases, their husbands – who claim to have suffered injuries after being implanted with the sling for the treatment of SUI.

This month, the Mass Torts Unit at Searcy Denney filed numerous cases for woman throughout the United States who have suffered severe complications caused by the defective design in the Mentor ObTape Sling.  The firm plans to file additional cases for women who are seeking compensation due to injuries caused by this defective product that Mentor withdrew from the market. Once the filing process is complete, Searcy Denney will currently represent more women who used Mentor’s ObTape than any other firm currently involved in the litigation.