Christopher Walker, a licensed urogynecologist, pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme involving the payment of bribes and kickbacks to obtain referrals of female patients across the United States for surgeries to remove transvaginal mesh (TVM) implants. Wesley Blake Barber, an owner of Surgical Assistance Inc., pleaded guilty on September 14, 2021 to participating in the same scheme. Both proceedings took place before United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie. According to court filings and facts presented at the plea proceeding, Barber and Walker sought to profit in connection with lawsuits filed throughout the United States relating to alleged harm that TVM implants had caused female patients. The scheme sought to take advantage of the fact that female patients who had their TVM implants surgically removed were entitled to receive larger settlements than female patients whose inserts remained implanted. As part of the scheme, Walker and others paid kickbacks and bribes to Barber in exchange for the referral of female patients for these surgeries, including patients who traveled across the United States to undergo the surgeries.
