Another Johnson's Baby Powder Ovarian Cancer Trial Will Build On Those Of The Past

Jurors are human beings and are likely to become incensed at Johnson & Johnson deliberately targeting mothers and children

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 - Another multi-plaintiff talcum powder cancer trial is about to get underway in St. Louis. This one features three women who claim using Johnson's Baby Powder for feminine hygiene caused them to develop ovarian cancer, a deadly disease. Jurors in the past have been sympathetic to women with this claim for many reasons. One of them is that ovarian cancer is a virtual death sentence by the time it is detected. Ovarian cancer has a latency period of ten to twenty years before the symptoms become apparent. Also, the pain and cramping of early stages of ovarian cancer mask themselves as the common symptoms women experience while menstruating every month. Jurors may realize that given the nature of ovarian cancer, and the benefits of early detection, thousands of lives, including the plaintiffs, may have been saved had the disease been detected earlier in stage one when the five-year survival rate is over 90%. Left untreated to spread to other tissue, organs, and eventually throughout the body via the bloodstream, the five-year survival rate falls to less than half. Ocrahope.org described the depressing statistics. "Ovarian cancer survival rates are much lower than other cancers that affect women. The relative five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is 48% percent. Women diagnosed at an early stage before cancer spreads have a much higher five-year survival rate than those diagnosed at a later stage."

Another unique feature of this trial is that it entails multiple plaintiffs, be it only three. There is a trend towards grouping multiple plaintiffs into the same trial to alleviate the one to two-year court system-wide backlog created by the Covid-19 shutdowns. Also, more than 34,500 people, mostly women with ovarian cancer, have hired Johnson's Baby Powder cancer lawyers to file claims against the company for failing to warn them of the dangers of using talc. Plaintiff lawyers argue that all Johnson & Johnson had to do was to warn consumers that the product was not to be used on the female genitalia because it could become readily absorbed through the vagina, which could lead to cancer. If they had done so many women would have been more sensitive to the pains and discomfort of early stages of ovarian cancer and would have caught it earlier. Jurors have also been told that Johnson & Johnson failed to place a talcum powder cancer warning to protect their hard-earned Johnson's Baby Powder brand. The multi-plaintiff case follows a 22 plaintiff trial where the women won an appeals-adjusted $2 billion. The Missouri Court of Appeals judge reduced the jury award in half on administrative grounds that seven of the 22 plaintiffs had died during the trial, illustrating the high death rate caused by failing to warn talcum powder users. After reviewing the plaintiff's arguments on appeal, the judge publicly chastized Johnson & Johnson. The Associated Press reported: "St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison, in a ruling Wednesday, cited evidence of what he called "particularly reprehensible conduct" by Johnson & Johnson. Burlison wrote that "defendants knew of the presence of asbestos in products that they knowingly targeted for sale to mothers and babies, knew of the damage their products caused, and misrepresented the safety of these products for decades."

Information provided by TalcumPowderCancerLawsuit.com, a website devoted to providing news about talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, as well as medical research and findings.