Medical devices to help patients deal with incontinence have changed the lives of many for the better. At this level of surgery, however, complications can occur, and urethral sling surgeries for women often have severe side effects.

Bladder slings, or transvaginal mesh implants, are used to treat stress urinary incontinence in primarily post-menopausal women. According to WebMD.com, the implant of these slings requires deep incisions, meaning that it is an inpatient procedure. Usually patients are able to return home two to three days after the procedure, though the recovery period is usually two to four weeks after that. WebMD notes that while complications are common, the implementation of a bladder sling usually cures stress urinary incontinence in eight out of 10 women.

DrugWatch.com reports that there are commonly used types of bladder slings. The first is called a tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) sling, in which the patient’s tissue is used to hold the sling in place instead of stitches. The second is a transobturator tape sling (TOW or TVT-O), which is a tension-free surgery that “has less risk of bladder and bowel injury in comparison with the TVT sling.” The third is a mini-sling, which has the least risk of complications after surgery. This is also the newest form of bladder sling, having debuted in 2006.

When bladder slings first hit the medical market, the side effects were not as well known or publicized as they are today. MD-Health.com advises that side effects can include difficulty urinating, internal bleeding, and severe pain. Inflammation of the organs around the bladder is common, making sex difficult. Faulty mesh implants can result in the obstruction of the urethra, damage to the bowels, and injury to surrounding blood vessels and nerves. In September of 2013, according to Bloomberg News, the first wave of lawsuits against five makers of vaginal mesh implants went to court. “The total number of suits could swell to more than 50,000 as more claimants seek to join the potential settlement,” reported Bloomberg News.

If you or someone you know has suffered severe side effects because of a bladder sling operation in Connecticut, the most important step is to speak to an attorney. Contact Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, for a free initial consultation today.

Connecticut law requires that all licensed insurance companies report any medical professional liability claims or lawsuits to the state, as an effort to keep track of where medical malpractice occurs, the rates of medical malpractice, and to determine if they are disproportionately reported in one hospital or treatment center.

There are three possible payouts in a medical malpractice case:

1. Indemnity – the amount of settlement dollars paid by the insurance company;
2. Defense counsel payments; and
3. Adjusting and other expenses – commonly the amount incurred by the actual insurance company to settle the claim.

Data collected by the State of Connecticut Insurance Department shows that the frequency of medical malpractice claims has decreased, even as the value of indemnity either awarded or settled has increased. As a whole, the Department reports that “claim values have increased at an average rate of approximately seven percent per year since 1992.”  The Department predicts that the number of cases will continue to increase as the state and the nation continues to recover from the 2008 economic downturn.

This has not led to a great change in the cost of medical malpractice insurance for licensed physicians in Connecticut in any significant way, though Connecticut’s average cost per claim is, according to the state’s Insurance Department, still among the highest in the nation.

There are three different types of insurance underwriters that may insure a medical professional: commercial insurers, excess and surplus lines insurers, ad captives, risk attention groups, and self-insured hospital. The latter accounts for 53 percent of the medical insurance market. No matter what type of insurance your physician or hospital carries, you are eligible for the same rights when it comes to a medical malpractice claim.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of medical malpractice, the most important step is to seek the counsel of a medical malpractice attorney. Contact Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law today for a free initial consultation.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System have been added to the growing list of prominent hospitals who have suspended the use of a surgical device used in hysterectomies because it can cause the spread of cancer.

Forty percent of hysterectomies are done because of the presence of painful fibroid tumors. The device that these hospitals have banned is a power morcellator, which is used to help remove fibroid tumors during hysterectomies.

The use of a morcellator involves making a small incision near the belly button to remove the uterus. Recovery time is three to five days, compared to four to six weeks when the uterus is removed via conventional surgery.

Surgeons use the morcellator to slice up the fibroids or the entire uterus, thus allowing the tissue to be removed through the tiny incision that was made.

But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the dangers associated with morcellation because the procedure can spread any cancer cells that may be present in the fibroids or the uterus, leaving them behind in the abdomen and pelvic area.

According to the FDA, one in every 350 women who undergo the procedure has uterine cancer which goes undetectable in any pre-operative testing. The spreading of these cancer cells by this procedure significantly decreases rates of long-term survival.

A solution to the issue is to put a bag around the device while the procedure is being performed in order to catch any of that tissue. However, adding the bag would require additional training for surgeons and this could drive up the cost of the procedure.

Studies revealing the dangers of the procedure spreading cancer cells have been around for several years. In 2011, researchers from South Korea presented at a medical conference in Florida their findings of a study they did comparing morcellating tumors or removing them whole. In the group of patients whose tumors were removed whole, 19 percent died within five years. In the group of patients whose tumors were morcellated, 44 percent died within three years. There have been similar results in studies done by studies done in Boston and in Germany.

If you have been left struggling with serious health problems after having a hysterectomy done, contact an experienced Connecticut medical malpractice attorney to find out what compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss.