Design Defect Claim Survives Summary Judgment Motion in Obtryx Transvaginal Mesh Case

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — A West Virginia federal judge has denied Boston Scientific Corp. summary judgment on a strict liability design defect claim in a transvaginal mesh case, finding there are issues of fact as to whether the manufacturer acted unreasonably in designing the Obtryx device.

However, in the May 7 order Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia ruled that the learned intermediary doctrine defeats the plaintiff’s claim of negligent failure to warn because the implanting surgeon did not read the device’s Directions For Use.

Karen Hembree was surgically implanted with …