Covidien faces trial over claims Symbotex hernia mesh barrier degrades too quickly

Eligibility

A federal judge has cleared the way for a bellwether trial in a Medtronic hernia mesh lawsuit alleging that Medtronic subsidiary Covidien misled physicians about a critical safety feature of its Symbotex Composite Mesh device. Plaintiff Larry Patterson filed the hernia mesh lawsuit after suffering a bowel obstruction and hernia recurrence that he says were caused by a defect in the Symbotex mesh implanted during his 2017 hernia surgery. Patterson alleges that Symbotex’s porcine collagen barrier — a pig-derived coating designed to prevent the mesh from adhering to surrounding organs during the healing process — degrades within approximately seven days of implantation. He argues that Covidien’