Class-action lawsuit filed against Boston Scientific, and other briefs

Modern Healthcare

  • A class-action lawsuit has been filed in federal court alleging Boston Scientific Corp. ran a conspiracy to use counterfeit materials from China to make its transvaginal surgical mesh devices. The products have been the target of criticism and thousands of lawsuits from injured patients in recent years. A West Virginia woman filed the suit, which claims that when the company started running out of the material required to make transvaginal mesh in 2011, it decided to smuggle a counterfeit version of the material out of China. Boston Scientific said in a statement Friday it does not believe the case has merit and plans to “vigorously defend” itself against the allegations.

  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved medical-device maker Olympus' redesigned duodenoscope. The agency said the changes aim to lower the risk of infections through contamination. In February, Olympus will begin recalling its TJF-Q180V model duodenoscope from an estimated 4,400 healthcare facilities. Scopes made by Olympus and other manufacturers have been linked to 25 infection incidents between 2012 and 2015 in the U.S., where as many as 250 patients acquired antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a Senate committee minority staff report released last week. Modifications to Olympus' scope aim to prevent leaking believed to increase infection risk.

  • Ordering a Catholic hospital in California to perform a tubal ligation sterilization procedure on a woman would violate its religious freedom, a San Francisco judge has ruled. The decision came after Rebecca Chamorro, 33, filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction that would require Mercy Medical Center in Redding, Calif., to perform the procedure after she delivered her third baby. The judge also noted that Chamorro could get the birth-control procedure elsewhere, and the hospital was not engaging in sex discrimination by denying it because its policy against sterilization on religious grounds also applies to men.
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