Many women who have suffered from major Essure side effects joining the growing litigation against Bayer Healthcare. Essure litigation alleges that the manufacturer failed to warn consumers about serious side effects associated with using the device.

Essure Birth Control Device

Essure is a popular form of permanent birth control, and so far the device has been implanted in around 750,000 women. Essure was designed as an alternative form of birth control to offer women who wanted a permanent option but did not want to undergo surgical tubal ligation.

The Essure device is made up of two metal coils with a fabric lining. These coils are placed in the fallopian tubes during an outpatient procedure. This means that implantation of the Essure device is designed to be done in a doctor’s office without invasive surgery. Essure implantation doesn’t involve an incision of any kind, and patients do not need anesthesia for the procedure.

The simplicity of Essure implantation is partially why the device is such an attractive option for patients. After the initial procedure, it takes two to three months for the Essure coils to become effective, expanding in place and allowing the surrounding tissue to grow around them. Once the process is complete, the device completely blocks the fallopian tubes and thereby prevents pregnancy.

Bayer Healthcare has continuously marketed Essure as a safer, simpler, and more effective method of permanent birth control than other options currently available on the market. But the device has been increasingly linked with some serious side effects that some patients claim they were not adequately warned about.

Major Essure Side Effects

While all medications or medical devices are expected to have certain complications, patients implanted with Essure claim that they were not adequately warned about some of the major Essure side effects that have been linked to the device. Since the device’s FDA approval back in 2002, thousands of women have reported suffering from major Essure side effects. So far, the FDA has received over 5,000 adverse event reports regarding Essure complications.

Minor side effects of Essure include headaches, dizziness, vomiting, cramps, abdominal or back pain, fatigue, weight fluctuation, and pain during sex. Major Essure side effects can be much more serious and long-lasting.  Major Essure side effects include failure of the implant, device migration, organ perforation, device fracture, and ectopic pregnancy.

Some of the serious Essure side effects may require device removal. Unfortunately, removal surgery can bring its own complications. Surgery is further complicated if a patient has suffered from major Essure side effects like device fracture or migration, which can make removal far more difficult, sometimes necessitating a complete hysterectomy.

Filing a Lawsuit Over Major Essure Side Effects

A growing number of lawsuits allege that Bayer Healthcare failed to adequately warn patients and the medical community about major Essure side effects and instead chose to actively withhold information about complications, placing company profit over patient safety. Plaintiffs allege that, had they been adequately informed of these major Essure side effects, they would never have been implanted with an Essure birth control device.