Even as Mirena lawsuits continue to move forward in state and federal courts, a new IUD called Liletta has been approved in the United States as a birth control product.

IUDs (or intrauterine devices) are birth control implants designed to be implanted in the uterus and block pregnancy for years at a time. The new IUD is called Liletta, and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 2, 2015. The implant has already been available in Europe for many years, but has only recently been introduced in the United States. It is hoped that the Liletta IUD will be more cost effective than other IUDs currently on the American drug and medical device market. However, it is unclear at the present time if the savings will be passed on to women, or if the lower cost of production will not translate through medical companies and insurance companies.

However, one IUD is already under close medical and legal scrutiny for allegedly life-threatening side effects. The Mirena IUD has been alleged to cause serious medical problems, including migration and uterine perforation. Allegedly, the Mirena IUD can dislodge and punch through the tissue of the uterus, damaging the uterus and migrating around within the body, causing a host a medical problems for women. Many Mirena lawsuits hold that Mirena patients have required surgical correction after using the Bayer Pharmaceuticals manufactured IUD.

Mirena IUD Litigation

So many Mirena IUD lawsuits have been filed that the U.S. legal system determined they should be consolidated into a Mirena multidistrict litigation or MDL, which are a coordinated group of similar legal cases. In the case of the Mirena MDL, thousands of Mirena lawsuits have been filed and grouped together in order to streamline the legal process for all parties involved. For example, the plaintiffs can share some of the costs of arguing their Mirena lawsuits in federal courts.

Mirena lawsuits typically allege that the Mirena IUD is inherently defective. These Mirena lawsuits hold that the Mirena IUD is prone to the medical problems reported, including uterine perforation and uterine embedment. Mirena lawsuits further allege that the makers of Mirena were aware—or reasonably should have been aware—of the risk of Mirena complications and marketed the Mirena IUD anyway, endangering the health of millions of women.

Mirena lawsuits typically seek to recoup the costs of medical care, including corrective surgery. Additionally, Mirena lawsuits seek to recoup the costs of lost wages and lost income potential, and income lost due to convalescence and recovery from surgery. On top of all of this, Mirena lawsuits often seek to recoup legal costs and punitive damage associated with pursuing these cases. Punitive damages are a type of award designed to punish offenders and discourage further misconduct.