Chamber and committees

Margaret Thomson submission of 29 June 2021

PE1865/W - Suspend all surgical mesh and fixation devices

I feel that this petition should be given urgent attention due to the ongoing continued use of mesh. Some types have been suspended but not Hernia which can cause just as much damage to patients’ intestines as it has very sharp edges, moves about and sticks to other organs almost like a piece of Velcro. It can fall apart and travel around the body causing damage where ever it goes. Operations on men appear to do better in most cases but not all, women fair less well. This mesh can cause untold damage, leaving patients in wheelchairs with life-long pain and families in turmoil. All of this to save a shorter time in the operating theatre but years of further treatment for the massive damage it can cause.

At present there are no Doctors in Scotland with a proven record of removing the Mesh which means patients have to travel to England or abroad to have the operation. With the resultant great costs to future finances, removing it helps but does not undo the damage already done and patients are left with still a great deal of ill health.

A member of my family had an inguinal hernia operation in September 2017 and had it removed one year later privately in London by one of the foremost Doctors for this operation. She required one year absence from work to cope with both the operation, the resultant damage and recovery time from the removal. Her symptoms are fairly common with others not because they copy each other but because the damage is to some extent universal and world wide. Symptoms include: extreme fatigue; memory loss, and loss of concentration; the need to lie down for part of each day; going straight to bed on returning from work for a while. Her husband and family do all the cooking and housework as she is no longer able to stand long enough to complete tasks she took in her stride before this operation.

The Mesh had moved and stuck to her pubic bone and had to be chiselled off which is which is horrifying to consider.

Operations should be done for the well being of the patient. I believe that there is effectively no care path is available in Scotland for hundreds of patients caught up in this horrifying dilemma. They counsel each other passing around knowledge they have found out by searching the internet, pain killers or the pain clinic are of limited use. How can any self respecting country allow this to continue to the residents and voters of Scotland?