5,000 is an amazing milestone. Physicians and women's health advocates have sent unified message in large numbers.
A recent AUGS communication asserted that this petition 'engenders further anxiety'. But if there's been anxiety circulating among physicians and women's health advocates, it most likely would have been the result of watching passively from the sidelines as our specialty seemed to be steered by external pressures, and as a thoughtul and logical scientific process was derailed at a critical moment. The 5000+ supporters of this petition are depending on the FDA and all stakeholders to support a process in which common sense and scientific evidence are allowed to prevail. Those are core principles that everyone should agree upon.
Moving forward: please consider engaging your patients, and soliciting their feedback and testimonials. Not only for POP mesh procedures, but for the full array of surgical options that have transformed outcomes so dramatically for women with pelvic floor disorders including midurethral slings, native tissue, and sacrocolpopexy. The silent millions of grateful and satisfied patients need to finally have an audible voice in this discussion, and surgeons using these methods responsibly and effectively should have their reality understood -- just as clearly as negative outcomes and unsuccessful surgical concepts must also be understood. Giving voice to patient testimonials on a large scale would be a powerful step forward for our specialty, one that's long overdue but very attainable if 5000+ individuals all take a few moments to do their part.