Boston Scientific Corp. must pay $100 million to a Delaware woman who blamed the company?s vaginal-mesh inserts for leaving her in constant pain and unable to have sex, in the first verdict after the company agreed to begin settling cases over the devices, and the biggest yet.
A state-court jury in Delaware found Thursday that Boston Scientific?s Pinnacle and Advantage Fit inserts, built to buttress sagging organs and treat incontinence in women, were defectively designed and company executives hid the flaws from Deborah Barba.
The 52-year-old former bank teller contends the inserts eroded once they were implanted, leaving her with a scarred vagina and a host of medical problems. The verdict is the largest so far against Boston Scientific over its vaginal-mesh inserts. It eclipsed a $73 million award last year to a Texas woman who blamed the company?s Obtryx sling for her injuries.
The jury also found Boston Scientific engaged in fraud by failing to alert doctors to the devices? faulty design. It awarded $75 million in compensatory damages and hit the company with a $25 million punitive-damages award.
The vaginal-mesh verdict is the first since Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific agreed last month to pay $119 million to resolve about 3,000 lawsuits over the devices in the first settlements of claims the inserts damaged women?s organs and made sexual intercourse painful.
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