Sussex woman praises BBC Casualty for vaginal mesh storyline

Tree Bartram, 54, was fitted with a transvaginal tape to lift her prolapsed bladder after she suffered incontinence following the birth of her child in 2007.

After enduring years of agony, Tree had the mesh removed in 2015 but she still lives with the “mental and physical scars” of her ordeal.

Fictional character Bibi in Casualty was admitted following complications with her vaginal mesh implant. Credit: BBC/Casualty

Tree, who lives in Eastbourne, said it was “a relief” to see the topic featured as an ongoing story in BBC drama Casualty.

She said: “It shows women not being heard, being diminished and having our pain dismissed as female anxiety.

“There isn’t another way to get our struggle heard. Casualty reaches a mainstream audience, and it helps to get the message out there that women are still living with the consequences.”

Tree, who lives in Eastbourne, still lives with chronic pain

In the medical series, a character named Bibi attempts to take her own life after she learns that her mesh implant has caused a pelvic mass.

It becomes apparent that Bibi had the surgery at a private clinic after it was officially suspended by the NHS and was not warned about the complications or supported through any subsequent problems.

The plastic implants were used on the NHS to treat incontinence and prolapse.

• READ MORE: Sussex woman who suffered from vaginal mesh implant speaks

Tree said Bibi’s storyline struck a chord with her after spending years fighting to get the problem recognised.

She has been left with a long list of medical problem including fibromyalgia, arthritis, skin disorders, nerve pain and incontinence – and she is still in constant agony.

Tree was fitted with a vaginal mesh implant in 2007

Tree said: “I find that most of us ‘mesh-damaged’ women come up against the same obstacles.

“We are trying to educate ourselves, but we feel like we are still encountering doctors who don’t know, or don’t want to know about it.

“It took five-and-a-half years for me to be examined properly.”

An official review led by Baroness Cumberlege into the prescription of pelvic mesh found thousands of women’s lives were needlessly ruined.

• READ MORE: Woman who sliced partner’s genitals backs mesh ban

It also found that women often had their concerns dismissed as “women’s problems”.

During a visit to a medical specialist in May, Tree says she was told she “reads too much” and should consider that her persistent problems may not be mesh related.

Tree still experiences intense abdominal pain and is hoping to be referred for a specialist scan to examine whether any mesh has been left inside her pelvis.

She said: “I still have severe stabbing pain and a dull ache all the time in my belly.

“I still have a swollen abdomen and that should have gone away.”

Tree is now calling for the women who suffered, and are dealing with the long-term consequences, to be compensated and for the findings of Baroness Cumberlege’s report to be implemented.