Motions

Medical Mesh

Debate resumed.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (11:03): I move that the motion be amended as follows:

Delete the words 'establish a select committee' and replace with 'instruct the Social Development Committee'

The first part of the motion would read:

That this house instructs the Social Development Committee to inquire into and report on the surgical implantation of medical mesh and in doing so consider—

The rest of the motion remains unchanged. The government is very supportive of the member for Torrens bringing this motion forward. In fact, we do think that it makes good sense to instruct the Social Development Committee to undertake this work, rather than have a select committee. It is exactly the same work that the member for Torrens would like looked into.

This is a very important area. I admit, at least as one member of this chamber, that it is not something I knew much about. I have learnt a lot more about it with the help of the health minister. That is what this parliament is about: bringing forward important issues that not every member is aware of, giving them some prominence and making sure that they are investigated. It is very clear that there have been very serious adverse medical outcomes. The government supports the intent of the motion but would like to change the committee.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (11:05): While it is not my preferred position, we on this side are happy to accept the amendment and this issue move to the Social Development Committee. My first preference would be a select committee but, as long as we are able to proceed, I am happy. I just want to make some comments with regard to those impacted by surgical mesh implantation, and those who may make decisions to proceed with it, and all the facts surrounding what have become for many, sadly, devastating consequences.

Today, in the chamber I have with me some of the women who have been affected by medical mesh implantation. Yvonne was not fully informed prior to mesh being implanted. The procedure has negatively altered every aspect of her life. She told me that, going into surgery, she was fit and active, a much-needed wife, mother and grandmother, and that she was full of hope. Due to adverse surgical injuries, she awoke bewildered and broken. A bladder perforation left her unable to void and catheter dependent.

She developed a foreign body reaction to mesh and felt like she was dying a slow and agonising death, which at times she says would have been welcomed. Mesh stole her dignity, her ability, self-esteem, confidence and independence. It shattered her hopes and dreams and put an end to quality time with her family. More upsettingly, mesh left her unable to lift her granddaughter. She is saddened when she reflects on life before mesh and life now. She said:

Gone is the fun, happy, energetic me who loved to dance and socialise. Instead is a traumatised, slow moving, helpless, unsociable and angry me.

Mesh has impacted significantly on so many women, not just in South Australia or Australia but around the world. While I was doing some research as recently as last night, I looked at what was happening around the world on this issue. The US, New Zealand and the UK are just some of the places where thousands of women have been affected by mesh implants.

Kim is a mother of four, a career paramedic and a registered nurse. She told me that the effects of transvaginal mesh had a life-altering impact on her and her family physically, emotionally and financially, impacting on both her personal and professional life. She said that she was now three years post mesh removal, marking the anniversary three days ago. In saying this, I would just like to say that to have the mesh removed, and only partially removed at that, Kim had to travel to the US at her own expense.

Kim returned to work five months post removal. This has been extremely difficult due to the physical aspect of her position as a paramedic. She is often in pain through shifts, but she prefers not to take pain relief while on shift so as not to blur her judgement. The pain is constant and unrelenting. It limits her physically at work, but she pushes through to provide for her family. She still has pain in her right hip, thigh, calf and foot, along with continuing numbness in her toes, severe lower back and multiple joint pain.

Kim said that it has impacted on every aspect of her life, including her sex life, which is basically non-existent due to the pain and the fact that she feels violated by mesh and the extensive surgical intervention that she has had to endure. She says, 'Luckily for me, I have a supportive partner and work colleagues.' Kim is just one of the women in South Australia, and she has played a significant role in the Australian mesh support group. I met with another woman, a constituent, Tracey, who told me:

I am not a number or a statistic, I am a woman who was just 29 years old when mesh ruined my life. After the birth of two children, I suffered stress urinary incontinence, and 2006 saw the beginning of my harrowing journey…

She said that mesh stole her life. It stole her children's happiness and her marriage. She continued:

It stole my mind and my body, my ability to trust another human being. The damage physically, emotionally, financially and psychologically is far more damaging than the very reason we had these surgeries in the first place.

Gwenda from Port Pirie said:

I feel that mesh surgeries performed in 2004 have mostly destroyed my life. They've contributed to my marriage breakdown, they've caused me physical and emotional ongoing problems. I've been on a disability support pension for eight years, been toxic and hospitalised, traumatised from major bleeding, and am still waiting for further assessment.

Listening to women like Kim, Yvonne, Kirsty, Gwenda, Eunice, Tracey, Lyn and many others makes me determined to see an inquiry into the issues surrounding mesh implantation in South Australian women, as outlined in the motion before us today.

I want to acknowledge the courage and the selflessness of these women, and all the women affected by medical mesh implantation, who have stood together in South Australia, Australia and around the world. Meeting some of them and hearing what can only be described as nightmare stories, along with my research, confirms my view: it is important that we are thorough and ambitious in this inquiry, in ensuring that any recommendations that come from the inquiry are speedily implemented.

I want to elaborate on a story told by Yvonne, who is here with us today. We met in this parliament in December, when this motion was first put up, but unfortunately we did not get to it. Yvonne wrote to me and said:

I am letting you know just how precarious and unpredictable women's health is as a result of mesh. One night before Christmas—

and we are talking about the Christmas just gone—

I woke in agony around 4am suffering chronic pain and passing large blood clots.

Knowing a mesh friend, Canadian advocate Chrissy Brajcic aged 42, tragically died just over 12 months ago from Sepsis as a result of having the same mesh as me, leaving 2 small boys motherless at Christmas, I became extremely scared.

My husband drove me to the RAH ER where I spent that night and the next day attached to an antibiotic intravenous drip. Diagnosed with another Urinary [tract] Infection, the 4^th for the year, never having suffered with the condition prior to mesh, I was dosed up with strong pain medication 'Endone' and Panamax forte, leaving me unable to function with a foggy brain, vomiting.

What upset me most was that some of the nurses I spoke to had never even heard of mesh and the doctor on duty asked 'did you have tape or mesh?' I was shocked that a qualified doctor did not know tape is mesh, made from the same plastic polypropylene. This is December 2018, in Adelaide.

It brought back memories of an appointment with a gynaecologist who told me 'stop talking about mesh, you never had mesh, a TVT is not mesh'. It was only when I produced my removal notes from my surgeon that he finally backed down.

We have women here in South Australia and around the world who have been telling these stories, and I encourage all of you to google 'medical mesh implantation'. You may have heard about it from the forum we held last year or maybe today is the first time. You will see that thousands of women around the world have been impacted.

I have heard from many women here in South Australia. Two of them have told me the same story, that after months and months of going to doctors, to specialists, with all sorts of symptoms, and no record of the mesh implantation coming forward, they were told it was in their head. Some were given medication because they were being accused of being hypochondriacs and told they just needed to settle down. Two women told me that it was not until during intercourse when their husband's penis was grated as if from a cheese grater, when there were physical signs, that the medical profession actually saw the impact that the mesh, which was coming through the woman's vagina wall, was having.

It was put to the women that it was in their head, that this does not happen, that this is not a reality. It is a reality, and if you just google and get onto the website you will see that it is a reality for many thousands of women. I have some statistics here in relation to what is happening in the US in relation to the number of people who have died as a result of medical mesh implantation.

We know that the consequences for some women have been severe, and we also know that there are men now being impacted by the implantation of medical mesh, men who have had hernia operations. It is not everyone, just as it is with the medical mesh that women have had implanted. Not all of these people will have the negative impacts and some of them will go on to have very positive results, but the risk is significant. It is so significant that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has lifted the rating of mesh from medium to high risk. That happened only recently, at the end of last year. So there are also men out there—and I can see some in here squirming, but I will not make any reference to that.

This is so important. This inquiry, from right across the parliament, needs to be given the genuine and serious consideration it deserves. We need to look at the recommendations. We do not want it to be a report that gets put on the shelf and ignored. We want it to be a report that will be taken into serious consideration, and have the recommendations the committee comes up with implemented, not dragged out.

As I said, this has been going on in other countries as well for years: 2015 in New Zealand, in Scotland and in the UK. As we speak, there is currently an independent review in the US that is travelling around that country hearing from the thousands of women who have been impacted by this. I expect that, with this inquiry proceeding, women will be able to have a voice here, that we will be able to call in the medical profession. SA Health is already in the process of putting together a number of clinics, and there is also a telephone number that women who are impacted by this can call.

There is work being done, but there needs to be even more. The pace at which it is being done needs to be much quicker. We need to take it seriously and we need to deliver, not just for the women already affected but for those women—it may be your wife, it may be your daughter, it may be your mother—who could still be impacted by this procedure. I commend the motion before the house today and seek the full support of this parliament to ensure this inquiry proceeds in the fastest time possible.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.