Denise Schrader Surgical Mesh Victim

Your Name: Denise Schrader

​Patient’s Name/Relationship: Denise Schrader

​City/State: Carrollton, OH

​When did event occur (what year)? 2010

Where did event occur? Acute Care General Hospital

​What type of medical harm did you experience or witness? Harm From a Medical Device or Implant

Please describe what happened. I was told by my p that I had to have surgery on a incisional hernia, took his word for it and went to dr that he recommended.. I wasn’t hurting or pushed out like regular hernias are, nor was I in any type of pain..the surgeon told me I needed surgery and showed me some rectangle sheets that reminded ya of counted cross stitch, even told the nurse that she better put 2 on my order. I went in Oct 22, 2010 for surgery, thought the dr would know not to put mesh over a aortobifemoral bypass, I wasn’t a dr and couldn’t tell him what to do because he didn’t tell me about the problems with the mesh, didn’t even tell me that it was dangerous and that I should look it up and I told him about the aortic bypass that went to my legs that I had to get after another surgeon took it upon himself to tell me I had to have back surgery, and it was my aorta all along… Was rolled into surgery 10/2010, when I woke up in post op I could feel burning in my chest, like nothing I have ever had, told surgeon it was burning. Dr told me it was just the pain from the surgery…that wasn’t my first ever surgery though and I never had this reaction… I had the return visit on the 4th of November 2010, didn’t make it had to go to ER on the 3rd with infection, fever, heat coming from my chest that you didn’t even need to touch, red rash that was over the mesh. The dr at the ER told me that he seen my dr and was told to give me a IV antibiotic and send me home, not worried that I had slept for the last 4 days straight, he wanted that office visit. I went to office, was in hospital, and sat in reception room until everyone was seen in so much pain that I couldn’t sit up straight. I was finally put into a room, he seen me, felt the heat off of my chest and then made me go admit myself into the hospital, just so he didn’t have to admit me, or take any blame for anything. I got my room the dr took the drain out and threw it in the red trash can, and the next day I went up to surgery. I awoke with a piece of foam that was the shape of a football on my chest, was told by dr ‘I tried to debride the mesh to put it back in but couldn’t do it”, never being told what all he took out. I woke up the day after and wound care came up and closed my door and got all around me. started pulling the tape, that had orange bubbles around the outside of it, off. As the nurses pulled the outside foam out, like I said the size of a nerf football, and then went deeper, there was another piece of foam there, both were 2” thick, and it was stuck like it grew to my insides…the nurses told the wound care that the dr told them to give my pain meds after, by this time I was in total freak out mode…the 2 nurses that had my arms had theirs grabbed and squeezed, at this time my dad came in, seen the hole and left in tears…that still hurts to have your dad turn into tears…. I lost my abdominal muscles, nerves, belly button, because on his report he said he seen a umbilical hernia so he added it to the incisional hernia. Umbilical hernias your belly button blows out, mine never did, he made a 2.5cm incisional hernia to be a 15×20 oval piece of mesh… I am in so much pain, have some deep depression, anxiety, and sleep problems… I am glad I don’t take a lot of meds, yeah had to have pain pills but got off of them quickly, thank god for CANNABIS, as it didn’t hurt as bad as having the mesh in for under 2 weeks… I asked for a pathology report from the hospital records room and this is what I got: a letter stating that the dr “knew what the organism was that infected the mesh and DIDN’T NEED TO HAVE IT SENT TO PATHOLOGY”…. for mesh that only got its 510k from FDA in May 2010 and it was put into me 5 months later… I want to see a world without mesh, or victims of mesh… all mesh is same, just put into the body different, it has put me into instant menopause the day it went in and also has made me not enjoy a life as a 45 yr old person, end of relations with my husband because of the pain, just as the TVT and bladder lift victims are. I cannot have my bypass fixed right and have had 2 fem fem’s from the left leg to right and I probably can’t have anymore done because my chest is full of scar tissue from mesh being cut out and 7 months to grow back into a enormous thing sticking out of my chest which was fixed after it healed up with allomax. they recalled my mesh in 12/2016 after I suffered from bowel obstruction in July 2015, that wasn’t fun not eating or drinking anything for 7 days except eating ice, and having your bowel sucked out by a tube in your nose…there was approx 21 suction containers out. Never knew how close I came to dying that week. \ the companies have changed names and renamed the product, and filed a new 510k with FDA and received it 12/2017…. I WANT THERE TO BE NO MORE VICTIMS OF MESH, every story I hear is so familiar because I LIVED IT, we all have death to look forward to… I have had my last words tattooed on my chest “Autopsy REQUESTED” signed and dated… we, all mesh victims have a facebook site ‘Mesh period’, that we help each other get thru, keep each other going.

What was the outcome of the medical harm issue? Permanent disability