Judicial action has increased for lawsuits regarding the Bayer contraceptive, Essure. Recently, a California judge allowed 14 lawsuits to proceed to trial, shortly after another barrage of 11 Essure lawsuits were approved in the same state in early August. So far, nearly 1,000 Essure cases are being processed and coordinated in Los Angeles, California.
Health complications involving Essure include:
- Severe headaches
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Urine Tract Infection/Inflammation (UTI)
- Pregnancy
- Device Migration
- Organ perforation
- Bleeding and painful menstrual cycles
- Chronic pain
Pressures Increase to Ban Essure
The FDA received almost 10,000 adverse event reports between November 2002, and December 2015. Bayer argues against litigation on the grounds that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Essure marketing and labeling strategies in 2002. However, in February of this year the FDA announced that it will require Essure to carry a black box warning. Representative Mike Fitzpatrick has since introduced legislation to remove Essure’s federal preemption laws and to take the device off the market.
Unfortunately, Essure can produce very painful side-effects and in some cases require hysterectomies in order to mitigate further damage by the device. A coalition of women have gathered in support for those who have endured Essure’s effects. Essure Problems was founded by Angie Firmalino in 2011 after having to brave the effects of Essure for two years. Since then, the group has accumulated over 20,000 members with the common goal of taking Essure off the market.
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