to
31 July 2017

Mesh Injured Forced to Collect Own Data

General Practitioners were astounded that surgical mesh injured women are forced to do the Ministry Of Health’s job.

Injured by a surgical mesh implant herself, Ms Patricia Sullivan presented a pilot research paper, highlighting controversial patient experiences, at the annual General Practitioners conference in Dunedin on Friday.

She was joined by Mesh Down Under health advocate Mrs Charlotte Korte and two others adversely affected by surgical mesh implants. They talked to a room full of GPs about the global mesh health scandal, what is going on behind the scenes and the impact on injured New Zealand patients.

Several GPs voiced frustration. They discussed the lack of an established treatment pathway, lack of data and their inability to be able to easily identify which patient has had a mesh implant. Others expressed concern that the patients themselves were forced to undertake this type of research project since the Health Select Committee stopped short of supporting a formal inquiry last year.

“We understand the pressure the GPs are under with their time constraints, and this is an extremely complex issue. When a mesh implant goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong” said Ms Korte today. “We are appreciative that the GPs were open to listening to patients’ voices about the challenges that both the GP and patient face when trying to seek help for this very complicated and severe treatment injury.”

This response was a stark contrast to the meeting they had with the Minister of Health Hon Jonathan Coleman earlier on Friday. Both Sullivan and Korte felt he was dismissive of the surgical mesh issue.

Sullivan said “I appealed to him as a Doctor, to please read the many patient stories that we gave him which outline the severity of their injuries and the impact on their everyday lives” Ms Sullivan said. “And I insisted that he gets back to us with his comments and how he would help”.

ENDS

© Scoop Media