Updated: May 24, 2016 – 10:52 AM

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has announced a consumer protection lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson regarding its marketing of a surgical mesh used to treat pelvic floor conditions in women.

The AG’s office says a result, thousands of Washington women face urinary and defecatory dysfunction, loss of sexual function, chronic inflammation, chronic pain and risk of chronic infection.

The complications can crop up years after the surgery, and are in many cases irreversible. Removal of the mesh is nearly impossible, according to the attorney general’s news release.

Between 2005 and 2015, the company sold nearly 12,000 mesh devices in Washington.

.#BREAKING @AGOWA has filed suit today in #Seattle against #Johnson&Johnson for concealing risks of pelvic mesh pic.twitter.com/wnicsMpAHj

The mesh is made of woven polypropylene threads, and is marketed to doctors and patients as a way to treat pelvic organ prolapse, or when organs shift from their normal position, and various bladder issues.

The lawsuit alleges thousands of violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, due to deceptive informational and marketing materials distributed to consumers and doctors. The attorney general will ask the court to prohibit Johnson & Johnson’s misleading marketing, find the company violated the CPA, and impose the maximum $2,000 civil penalty per violation, in addition to costs, fees and restitution.

According to the AG’s office, the company violated the CPA in the following ways:

• The company never told consumers that mesh causes and harbors infection, which can indefinitely live in the small weaves of mesh.

• The company never told consumers that severe erosion – or a complication where the mesh moves and protrudes into an organ or through the vaginal wall – causing chronic pain and dyspareunia, or painful intercourse, is a common complication.

• And the company never told consumers that this risk of erosion is lifelong, because the implant is permanent, or that erosion can cause chronic pain and injury to sexual partners.

.@AGOWA: Complications can crop up years after the surgery, and in many cases irreversible. https://t.co/FSAvsYyi2c pic.twitter.com/HY1vzz9yQY

— KIRO 7 (@KIRO7Seattle)

“It’s difficult to put into words the horrific injuries and pain many women are still suffering as a result of Johnson & Johnson’s deception,” Ferguson said. “They believed they were making informed medical decisions, but that was impossible when Johnson & Johnson was spreading inaccurate information about its products’ risks, essentially duping doctors into using their own patients as clinical trials. This is an unacceptable way of doing business, and I will hold the company accountable.”

The state alleges tens of thousands of violations of the CPA, and penalties could be well into the millions of dollars.

Women who have Johnson & Johnson mesh devices and are experiencing symptoms can contact investigator MaryBeth Haggerty Shaw at [email protected] or contact our Consumer Resource Center at 1-800-551-4636. Complaints can be filed at atg.wa.gov/file-complaint.