Essure

Essure Birth Control Lawyers

If You Suffered Severe Side Effects After an Essure Implant, We Can Help You File for Compensation

Women may rely on birth control for most of their lives to prevent unwanted pregnancies and/or help with health concerns related to the reproductive system. Not only is its effectiveness of utmost importance, but its safety for long-term use must be assured. Among women who received the Essure permanent birth control implant, some suffered serious and unexpected side effects.

The device is now off the market but was offered to tens of thousands of women between its release by Bayer in 2002 and the company’s decision to stop selling it at the end of 2018. Over that time, many women reported severe complications, slowly learning they weren’t alone in their suffering. We are here to help anyone who suffered because of this device file a claim for compensation. The stories we’ve heard from Essure patients are heartbreaking. If you experienced Essure side effects that changed your life, talk to our skilled and experienced attorneys for help.

How Essure Hurt Women

Though sold as an easy alternative to the only other permanent method of female birth control—tubal ligation—Essure caused problems that required women to seek additional medical care. In fact, a post-release study found that Essure patients were more likely to need follow-up surgery than those who underwent tubal ligation. Additionally, as the device and its complications were not widely known, finding a doctor who could help was a big concern for many. Often, Essure patients ended up needing a hysterectomy to remove the harmful device from their bodies.

Severe Side Effects Patients Weren’t Warned Of

Between clinical trials and reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), common side effects Essure patients experienced include:

• Allergic reaction
• Depression/anxiety
• Fatigue
• Hair loss
• Headache
• Menstrual irregularities
• Mood changes
• Pain in the abdomen, pelvis, or back
• Rash
• Weight fluctuation

Many patients who had an Essure device reported more than one of these symptoms. Severe reactions could cause someone to have to miss work or other obligations or even to seek emergency care.

Device Migration & Organ Perforation

Because the Essure device was implanted to block ova from leaving the fallopian tubes by prompting scar tissue formation, it was supposed to stay in place among that tissue. However, this did not happen. Some reports detailed the device migrating to the abdominal or pelvic cavities. Broken-off pieces could also migrate through the body. The biggest danger here was organ perforation—Essure is made of metal, and therefore can cut through internal tissues rather easily. When the device fell out of place, it could tear a hole in the fallopian tubes, uterus, or other organs.

Pregnancy and Essure

For most women, Essure did perform as a birth control method—pregnancy rates were equivalent to those among tubal ligation patients. However, when Essure patients become unexpectedly pregnant, they were at higher risk of having a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

FDA Action Against Essure

Because of the high volume of complaints and the serious nature of the issues being reported, the FDA made Bayer revise its marketing materials multiple times. First, they required the device to come with a “black box” warning—the most serious type of consumer alert a medical device can carry. When the reports continued, the FDA required Bayer to add a checklist of potential side effects that doctors and patients had to review and sign together.

Once notified of the risks (and perhaps after hearing stories of others who were affected), Americans moved away from Essure. Bayer decided to stop selling the device on December 31, 2018, citing financial reasons rather than the dangers that had been linked with it.

Can I Sue Bayer if Essure Harmed My Life?

The number of cases against Bayer has been steadily growing as patients link their side effects to Essure and search for their options. Between the FDA warnings, the agency’s requirement for Bayer to conduct additional studies, and Bayer execs admitting they didn’t know how to tell who might experience serious side effects, it’s clear the company was negligent in releasing this product. For those looking for a non-surgical method of birth control, Essure may have sounded too good to be true. As it turns out, it was.

If you suffered serious injuries due to this device—especially if symptoms have continued despite having it removed—you could be able to receive significant compensation. Aside from covering your medical costs, Bayer could be forced to compensate you for other losses, like missed work, or changes in your life, like the pain and suffering you went through. Filing a lawsuit against a company like Bayer is a big deal. Make sure you have an attorney team that knows how to handle pharmaceutical litigation against huge corporations.

Our team at Shrader & Associates, L.L.P. has recovered seven-, eight-, and even nine-figure settlements from companies that wronged their customers. We have the skill to take on corporate lawyers and aggressively fight for every client we work with.