Just sharing this article from The Daily Record, “Revealed: Campaigners accuse Holyrood of selling out victims as doctors ask for word ‘mesh’ to be removed from new patient forms“, which reads:
Campaigners Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy (right) said doctors wanted to remove the word from leaflets as the public now associated with injury
Revealed: Campaigners accuse Holyrood of selling out victims as doctors ask for word ‘mesh’ to be removed from new patient forms
EMAILS seen by the Sunday Mail reveal that health bosses offered to delete the word from future patient information leaflets.
Jan 11, 2015 14:15 By Marion Scott
CAMPAIGNERS have accused the Government of “selling out” NHS mesh victims by pledging to remove the word from new consent documents.
Emails from chief medical officer Frances Elliot to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency offer the deletion of the word from new forms for patients.
The messages, uncovered using Freedom of Information legislation, show Dr Elliot offered MHRA chief Neil McGuire the removal of the word from future patient information leaflets.
She assured officials that the word “mesh” would be removed in explanations of bladder and pelvic organ prolapse procedures.
The pledge came just a week after then Health Secretary Alex Neil promised women would be given information on all side-effects.
Last week, the Sunday Mail revealed Neil assured pro-mesh surgeons he intended reinstating the controversial procedure even before a European safety inquiry had been completed.
Dr Elliot’s email to the MHRA’s clinical director of medical devices came just seven days before the suspension of all mesh procedures in June, pending a Scottish investigation launched by Neil and a Europe-wide review.
She wrote: “We have had representation from the Scottish clinicians to change the title to Synthetic Mid-Urethral Slings as this is the clinical consensus view about how the tapes should be described. We will work with our women’s group to be able to change for the next version.”
Hear Our Voice campaigner Elaine Holmes, 50, from Newton Mearns, Glasgow, one of more than 400 Scottish women who suffered catastrophic mesh injuries, said: “There’s only one reason for removing the word ‘mesh’ from literature – because the public now associate the word with the possibility of ending up crippled or in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives.
“We fought long and hard to have all possible warnings contained in patient information leaflets and will continue to fight to keep people fully informed.
“If mesh implants were 100 per cent safe, why should doctors or health officials care if the word mesh is used in a leaflet?
“The truth is that pro-mesh doctors are still insisting procedures are safe and are hoodwinking unsuspecting women by telling them these controversial implants are tape rather than mesh.
“All of these implants are made of the same plastic polypropylene mesh and hundreds of thousands of women have suffered horrible internal injuries when the material cut through their insides.”
Labour MSP Neil Findlay, who campaigned for victims, said: “How many more women are going to end up in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives before this government keep their promises? Instead of doing everything they can to protect patients, they appear to be doing everything they can to protect those who have caused devastating injuries. Victims deserve more than this.”
Government health watchdogs in Australia ruled it misleading to withhold the word “mesh” from documents describing implants.
The Scottish Government said: “The Expert Group, set up to address the issues affecting women who have undergone mesh surgery, will not be removing the word ‘mesh’ from any publication that they are developing.”
(Full article at: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health/revealed-campaigners-accuse-holyrood-selling-4958836#ICID)
This all goes back to the fact that mesh for SUI is also risky… regardless if they call it Tape, TVT, TOT, Slings, or the new “less invasive” Mini-Slings.
Mesh Me Not 
I am grateful for your site because I found it after it was recommended that I have a complete hysterectomy and mesh used for my prolapse. I manage with a pessary which I forget about most of the time. I have a “grossly stable mass” on one ovary, but am overall pretty healthy. I don’t like to think that doctors would risk their patients’ health for mere money, but golly gee changing “mesh” to “tape” seems like a step too far into actual corruption. One less BMW? Sorry, but not with my body!
Think this problem through and find a safe solution. Perhaps there isn’t one.
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