Transvaginal mesh implant scandal

To understand what transvaginal mesh is, and why there’s a ‘scandal’ I have to explain what pelvic organ prolapse is, and how common it is for women. Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) occurs when a pelvic organ (bladder or rectum or uterus) shifts out of place. See this Guardian article for some helpfully explanatory diagrams: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/vaginal-pelvic-mesh-explainer

Pregnancy and childbirth is the leading cause for POP. Hormonal changes and the physical weight of carrying a baby can weaken the pelvic floor, and vaginal delivery can tear pelvic structures. In fact, POP affects up to half of mothers, but it can also be associated with heavy lifting, menopause or it can just be genetic. So POP is a common health issue for women, and as usual with women-centric health problems, a very quiet epidemic is happening. 

Some women show no symptoms, and for some women the prolapse is debilitating. They can experience symptoms such as difficulty with bowel movements, urinary problems, backaches, pain during sex – among others. So women want medical help with this issue, and not all need surgery to fix POP – but some do.

And so we come to transvaginal mesh implants.

From 2003 up until Nov 2017, transvaginal mesh implants (also known as pelvic mesh, vaginal mesh) were an option used to treat severe POP alongside options that were more traditional (like suturing).

The mesh comes in various types, (tapes, slings etc) and the idea behind it is to support weakened organs. It’s permanently implanted to reinforce, and your body grows its tissue back around and through the mesh.

By 2010 transvaginal meshes were used in nearly 25% of prolapse interventions in some countries.

But there were always complications with the mesh. Look at this list of issues from The Australian Pelvic Mesh Support Group in their petition to be heard by the Minister for Women back in 2015.

Chronic vaginal pain. Pain during sex. Nerve damage. Fistulas. Perforation of other organs. These are not manageable side effects.

I will also highlight that the situation was so dire they actually had to have a support group, and the support group had to run a petition to the Minister for Women instead of a medical group.


Healthissuescentre.org.au set up a survey to better understand the complication rate of the transvaginal mesh implants. 2410 women completed the survey, and of those 58% stated they experienced pain during intercourse, 26% had a relationship break down, and 41% stated they felt they weren’t fully informed about the procedure.

From the site Health Issues Centre:

“What’s worse is that when women approached a health professional about their concerns after surgery, a staggering 38% were told that nothing could be done”

I think this statistic really highlights the root of this problem. The transvaginal mesh implants had problems, and for something that affects so many women, the complaining women were just told nothing can be done. And they kept putting mesh into more women to treat POP.

One survivor of the implants, Gai Thompson, told ABC:

“For so many years we’ve been told there’s nothing wrong with us, that symptoms are either in our head or it’s not because of the mesh” [Link]

Why are women’s complaints and pain not taken seriously? If the complications were so high, why were we still using this flawed product and why is there no research into alternative methods for POP in the first place, a problem that is so common? We have the traditional methods, but these have a high rate of prolapse recurring.

Why does women’s pain continue to be minimised by our healthcare professionals?

Up to 14% percent of the implants rubs or becomes exposed in the vagina. (https://medicine.uq.edu.au/article/2017/06/explaining-vaginal-mesh-controversy)

Women can experience bleeding, discomfort and painful intercourse. And some women, when complaining to their doctors about pain during sex after the implants, were told to try anal sex.

If this can’t be used as a glaring example of how women’s pain and needs are minimised by our health professionals I don’t know what is. There’s nothing wrong with anal sex, but to have vaginal sex off the table because an implant is faulty seems staggeringly cruel to me. I can’t imagine a situation where a male had an implant that caused pain during heterosexual intercourse that doctors would tell him to essentially give up and try anal sex!

And once women start having issues with the implant, they face another scary complication: the mesh is designed to grow in. So it’s hard to get out. And according to The Australian Pelvic Mesh Support Group the doctors here weren’t trained for full removal of the mesh. This left women flying on their own money to America to try to get the mesh removed.

They’re not overreacting either, in the UK, the NHS (National Health Service) data suggests that 1 in 15 women need to get the mesh removed!

The mesh implants for POP were banned in November 2017, after a 700-person class action suit that is ongoing and the start of a Senate inquiry (spearheaded by Senator Derryn Hinch).

Dishearteningly, the senate inquiry heard some women say doctors didn’t even tell them they were having mesh implanted.

“Many women told the inquiry that “doctors didn’t tell them they were having mesh implanted,” Senator Hinch said.”

Unacceptable.

This whole thing shines a bright light onto how women continue to be treated when it comes to the medical industry.

To summarise: the devices weren’t tested properly, they were implanted - sometimes without full awareness and therefore consent, when they became a problem women’s pain was ignored, and when women needed to get the things removed there weren’t trained doctors to do it for them.

As Senator Derryn Hinch said “I believe it was one of the biggest medical scandals Australian women have ever been subjected to”.

I have to agree.

By: Tee Linden