N.J. Lawsuit Says Mentor Silicone Breast Implants Caused Woman’s Lymphoma

PHILADELPHIA — An Ohio woman has sued Mentor Worldwide Inc. and its parent Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey state court, alleging her silicone breast implant caused her to develop cancer.

In an April 27 complaint filed in the New Jersey Superior Court, Renee Cashen says her doctors linked her anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) — a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — to her textured MemoryGel SILTEX implants.

The complaint also names another J&J subsidiary, Ethicon Inc., as a defendant.

Cashen received the implants in February 2008 and was later discharged from the post-market study in which she had been …