USA — Matthews & Associates  Law Firm is scheduled to try several pelvic (transvaginal) mesh and sling cases across the U.S. beginning in May 2013.

The law firm is taking depositions, reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, meeting clients scheduled for trial, and preparing to prosecute their cases in court.

“We are keeping the pressure on defendants in these cases,” said attorney David Matthews. “Defense feels it has a proven product with acceptable safety risks. We particularly disagree about the risks. Adverse events continue to pile up, and there is no question that when something  goes wrong with synthetic mesh or a given sling, the injuries can be catastrophic.”

He added that he didn’t want to give away strategy for taking on mesh corporations and their battalions of attorneys.

“But  I can tell you we find it troubling how little pelvic mesh was tested before being implanted in human beings,” he said. “Mesh makers tested their products on a couple of dozen animals, on rats, rabbits, and sheep, and I guess it’s fair to say none of them complained of pain or other problems, which hardly proves mesh is acceptably safe and effective, or that it solves more problems than it creates.”

Pelvic mesh and slings were not approved through the FDA’s usual rigorous review route, but rather through the agency’s truncated 510(k) process explained on page three in this TVM Case Update.

More than 6,000 pelvic mesh cases have been filed in the Federal MDL court in W. Va. thus far.