French women are filing an Essure complaint lawsuit against Bayer, claiming that their contraceptive devices have given them pain, bleeding and much worse.

The two women say that the Essure contraceptive device manufactured by German pharmaceutical giant Bayer Healthcare has caused a string of medical complications.

In their Essure lawsuit, the women list problems including bleeding, neck pain, episodes of deafness and periods of paralysis – all problems they attribute to the Essure contraceptive device.

One of the women filing Essure complaints is a woman who has founded an organization called Resist, a group that advocates to have the Essure device pulled from the market.

The attorney in this Essure lawsuit suggested that it is possible that the troubles caused by the Essure device might be attributed to an allergic reaction, due to trace amounts of nickel in the device. But it might also be because of the way the Essure device was fitted in the patient, he added.

The attorney says his clients are initiating their Essure lawsuit to get an expert determination on the device and its complications. He added that because the women are not wealthy, Bayer should pay for the independent expert reports.

One of the attorneys for the Essure plaintiffs says that lawyers are working on numerous other Essure cases involving at least 30 women.

French Essure Complaints

While the two women’s Essure complaints are directed at Bayer, the French health ministry said that investigations carried out regarding Essure complaints have revealed that the problem is not in the contraceptive device itself but in the way it was fitted in patients.

L’agence Nationale de Securite du Medicament (ANSM), France’s watchdog for medicines and medical devices, has reported that they have received nearly 250 complaints about the device in 2015 and 162 in the first 10 months of 2016 alone.

They have also said that Essure problems might be because of the way the device was fitted. The ANSM’s recent statement added that they have narrowed the controls on who is allowed to implant the devices.

What is Essure?

Essure is marketed as a permanent, non-surgical form of long-term birth control.

During the implantation procedure, two small, flexible coils consisting of metal and polyester are implanted into the fallopian tubes. This procedure is done through the vagina to minimize recovery time.

Over time, tissue begins to develop around the metal coils and blocks the fallopian tubes, stopping conception. After three months, women get tested to see if in fact they are now sterile.

Since 2001, about one million Essure devices have been implanted in women worldwide. According to Bayer, about 240,000 of these were in France.