Here at Truth in Medicine, we are fighting to keep this from happening to other women (and to men for hernia repair). May 2013 will mark the beginning of Year Six for Truth in Medicine's mission to get Synthetic Surgical Mesh off the market, though individual efforts started at the FDA in 2007. Those of us mesh injured patients who are able have been traveling to Washington speaking before Congress, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the FDA starting in early 2010.
A milestone came when our testimony from June 2010 was included in the IOM report on the flawed 510 (k) Premarket Notification (PMN) clearance process, which came out in August 2011. Add to that the July 13, 2011 FDA warning of the significant harm from transvaginal mesh for pelvic organ prolapse, and the floodgates of awareness of this medical disaster opened up. As a result, synthetic surgical mesh has become the "poster child" for bad medical devices on Capitol Hill.
We won some battles but this is not over. The fight continues. Still, hundreds of thousands of patients have mesh implanted every year for hernia repair, bladder suspension and pelvic organ prolapse, leading to horrific complications and a lifetime of pain and suffering. Despite the warnings, thousands of lawsuits and mandated 522 studies by the FDA people continue to be harmed every day.
We have to step up our efforts as patients educating patients! Please participate. Please take action. Please join our cause! We need your support, your donations and most of all, action on your part.
Tell everyone you know not to listen to claims “Minimally Invasive, Outpatient Procedure”. “Oh, it’s a new mesh and it’s better.” Please tell everyone you know the truth about mesh and the harm it causes. Don't let someone you know, someone you love be harmed!
ALL MESHES are capable of causing significant harm and even death. They shrink, they harden and they move within the body AFTER they are permanently surgically implanted. Having them surgically removed when they cause complications is like removing gum from hair.
The doctor has to surgically cut and remove your own tissue to get the mesh out. And most doctors who implant meshes do not have the surgical skills to remove them. Or how to locate them in your body with an MRI or CT Scan or Ultrasound.
Life altering catastrophic complications happen every day to patients from the surgical implantation of Synthetic Surgical Mesh for hernia repair, pelvic organ prolapse and bladder suspension, both male and female.
When this happens, doctors frequently have no idea how to deal with the complications. Or to avoid liability, they deny mesh is the root of the complications and/or frequently blame the patient.
Are you one of these patients? Has your doctor abandoned you? Do you need medical attention or just someone who believes you? We believe you. We will try to help you find the right medical treatment.
Truth in Medicine is fighting the sale of mesh by greed driven pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. Truth in Medicine is focused on making changes to the 510(k) Premarket Notification “clearance” process at the FDA to better protect patients! Truth in Medicine has a presence in Washington and is determined to stop the atrocity of mesh implantation.
Many “outpatient procedures” are life threatening! Are they worth risking your life? Do you really need surgery? Is your doctor implanting a medical device? Is your doctor really telling you everything he or she knows?
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are no magic buttons. Doctors do not heal you. Doctors only have the ability to help your body heal itself.
If you already have mesh implanted, you can not change what happened to you. You can prevent it from happening to other people!! Your participation in our cause will make a difference! Please make a difference! Please register on the Worldwide Registry of Complications of Synthetic Surgical Mesh so we will be able to show the FDA and its’ CDRH the true number of people harmed by mesh!
REMEMBER…if you need surgery and do not have Synthetic Surgical Mesh already implanted in you, ask your doctor to repair your hernia, improve your incontinence symptoms or treat pelvic organ prolapse with an alternative procedure! If they don’t know an alternative procedure, find another doctor who does. You will be saving yourself lifelong heartache and pain.
We really need you to help us to help others. Please donate to support our cause!
God bless you on your road to good health!
Don't be a Victim! Be a Victor!
Blessings,
Lana Keeton, President & Founder
