Hernia repair is one of the most common general surgery operations. There are nearly 1,000,000 hernia repairs performed every year in the United States, including incisional hernia repairs, which are hernias as a result of other surgeries.

Many times in hernia repair surgery a hernia mesh is used. This is a man-made prosthetic being placed in a sensitive and infection-prone area of the body, the abdomen. A recent outcry of patients against a product called Physiomesh, made by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, highlights the need for large corporations to answer for marketing products that worsen the lives of those who use them. While a hernia usually does not ruin your life, some of the complications from the product can.

Physiomesh, like most hernia meshes, was made of polypropylene, a polymer also used in automotive parts, packaging, tapes, and food containers. The material should not be used in the human body. The failure rate of these newer mesh products can be high. We trust medical companies to investigate the consequences that their product will have in the real world. In addition, doctors trust medical companies with their reputations. Instead of a formal recall, Physiomesh was “withdrawn from the market” in 2016.