A woman has filed an Essure birth control lawsuit after it allegedly caused severe and permanent injuries.

Plaintiff Kimberly B. says she was implanted with Essure permanent birth control in July 2011. She says she underwent an HSG test to confirm the coils were in their proper place and her fallopian tubes were occluded with scar tissue.

Essure is an implantable, permanent form of birth control that consists of metal coils covered in polyester spikes. Once implanted into a woman’s fallopian tubes reached through the vaginal canal, the coils are supposed to facilitate scar tissue growth that “naturally” seals the fallopian tubes. Bayer Corporation makes the Essure birth control product.

According to the Essure implant lawsuit, Kimberly began suffering from heavy bleeding, painful intercourse, abnormal menstruation, bloating and severe abdominal pain not long after the Essure coils were implanted.

She says she remembers reading a brochure that said Essure was a safe and effective form of permanent birth control, and she alleges she relied upon the purported misrepresentations in the brochure. She says if she had known the true risks of possible adverse events that she would not have opted to receive Essure.

Essure Birth Control Lawsuit Allegations

Thousands of women have used social media and a website created by community activist Erin Brockovich to tell their horror stories of health issues they’ve allegedly suffered because of Essure birth control.

In early 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it was imposing a new restriction on Essure that included the requirement that doctors provide patients with a checklist of risks. The FDA then announced the sale of Essure will be banned in the United States, effective Dec. 31, 2018.

Women allege Essure was never designed to be permanently implanted in the human body. The metal coils are made of nickel and a titanium alloy. Few of the women remember being asked if they had a nickel allergy, even though about 10 percent of the population is allergic nickel. Any patient with a nickel allergy could react by rejecting the coils or suffering from inflammation, joint pain, and rashes.

In addition, Essure’s polyester spikes are made of PET fibers, which are plasticizers that break down when exposed to heat. PET fibers release the toxin acetaldehyde when exposed to temperatures in the 90-degree Fahrenheit and above range. The human body’s temperature at 98.6 could allow acetaldehyde to leach from the coils. The chemical is a carcinogen released by burning wood and is a byproduct of alcohol metabolism that has been linked to liver damage.

The materials used in Essure are not the only problem.

According to the birth control lawsuit, Essure sometimes “migrates from the tubes, perforates organs, breaks into pieces, and/or corrodes, wreaking havoc on the female body.”

In May 2013, the FDA purportedly found evidence of 16,046 birth control complaints about Essure that had not been properly reported to the FDA. Bayer allegedly hid these complaints that included migration of the coils outside of the fallopian tubes.

The Essure Birth Control Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-05362-GJP in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.