In various embodiments, the present invention is directed to a degradable poly(ester urea) (PEU)-based adhesion barrier, particularly suitable for use in connection with surgical mesh repair in the treatment of hernias and other soft tissue injuries comprising an amino acid based poly(ester urea) backbone and one or more zwitterionic side chains connected to the amino acid based poly(ester urea) backbone through a sulfide bond. In some other embodiments, the present invention is directed to method of making the PEU-based adhesion barriers comprising: preparing an amino acid based PEU polymer or terpolymer having one or more allyl functional groups; preparing a thiol functionalized zwitterionic compound; and reacting the allyl functionalized PEU polymer or terpolymer with the thiol functionalized zwitterionic compound to form a degradable PEU-based adhesion barrier having an amino acid based PEU backbone having zwitterionic side chains.