The report went on to outline vital recommendations for improved treatment guidelines and medical training, prevention of financial inducements for practitioners, a registry of high-risk implantable devices and an audit of past procedures. It also outlined concern that it is not possible to identify accurately the number of women who have received transvaginal mesh implants in the country.

"Women that have had those implants, who have those outcomes ... have been failed in a monumental way by the system and by certain people in the medical profession who they trusted," said Sen. Rachel Siewert when she introduced the report Wednesday to the Senate. "I hope that we never have to have another inquiry where we see such suffering from the witnesses."

Senate involvement all started when Sen. Derryn Hinch heard stories such as Schulz's, and was moved to start an inquiry in February 2017.

"I hope our report convinces them they have been listened to and more importantly they have been believed," Hinch said at the Senate meeting introducing the report.

Schulz said she hopes the report will go past recommendations into action, and she hopes no woman has to go through what she did: "It changes your whole life. You don't feel like a woman anymore. They just take everything in one fell swoop."

'Horror stories' in consumer group's survey

Clocking in at 20 minutes, the mesh implant is a quick fix aimed at repairing common complications from childbirth and menopause.

Part of the problem in the past, Schulz said, is that there were no hard statistics and records of how many procedures are done and their effects.

The Australian health care system offers universal health care insurance, paid through taxes, as well as private insurance.

Based on his survey, Vadasz estimates that in the past two decades, there have been 120,000 to 150,000 mesh implants in Australia, and around 70% of the stories his group heard involved a lack of fully informed consent. Many women, he said, were not even told that a mesh would be implanted into their bodies.

'Mine was badly fitted'

"As these devices were to be permanent, we are meant to live with rotting pelvises forever," said Justine Watson, a Sydney resident who submitted her mesh photos to the Senate as part of the inquiry and joined more than 700 Australian women last year in a suit against Johnson & Johnson over claims of flaws in its mesh devices.

Watson's pain was so severe that she tried to take her own life after being hospitalized multiple times. Doctors didn't believe her, she said, referring her to psychiatrists instead.

"Mine was badly fitted," said Watson, who spent her life savings to travel in October from Australia to the United States to remove the mesh that was first implanted in 2010. "It broke into the wall of my bladder and skewered my urethra."

After giving birth to two boys, both weighing more than 8 pounds, Watson struggled with incontinence.

But within three months of the procedure, Watson was incontinent again and after suffering multiple medical problems, such as fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue, she had the mesh removed. At 47, the procedure left her with the body of an 80-year-old: unwell, overweight and unable to walk more than 100 meters.

The need for more action

Both Watson and Schulz said they felt that Wednesday's Senate report was full of guidelines rather than concrete rules.

"This (report) feels somewhat ambiguous and can be interpreted several different ways. ... It's very unlikely that it'll make any difference," Watson said.

And eight Australian pelvic mesh implant support groups agreed, saying in a joint statement: "There are a few glimmers of hope for mesh-injured women in the report - but the wording used in the recommendations are so weak that it could, if not followed up by robust policy change, give Australian health authorities, specialists and primary carers permission to carry on as usual. We are disappointed that the recommendations are not stronger, mandating a change in treatment, monitoring and care - especially considering that the report found that: Women are not having their mesh complications identified, or believed, by primary or specialist doctors."

Now Schulz, along with others who have been affected, are now looking into a Royal Commission, an official investigation that they hope can fully ban the practice and even offer financial restitution.

Schulz wants more recognition of the problem. She represents more than 1,600 women in the Australian Pelvic Mesh Support Group, an advocacy organization that warns women about the risks of the procedure.

In response to the Senate study, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) said, "more needs to be done to protect the safety of women."

"It was very clear in the report that women who have experienced adverse complications as a result of a mesh implant have endured long-term pain and reduced quality of life," said President Professor Steve Robson from RANZCOG, which trains and accredits doctors in Australia and New Zealand.

But for many women, such as Schulz, no other option is given.

A global issue

Edward Morris, vice president for clinical quality for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, highlights that based on current evidence, the mesh may be effective to treat incontinence but is not advised for organ prolapse.

There is still a small subset of women for whom it might be beneficial, he added, given the "appropriate information and counseling about the risks and benefits."