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What is This Claim About?
Contraceptive implant Essure is the target of a group action claim because thousands of women have suffered pain after the implant has pierced through bodily tissues.
Women with Essure implants have reported chronic abdominal pain and uterine bleeding. Essure was taken off the U.K. market in 2017, but thousands of women may still have an Essure implant.
Who’s Eligible?
You may qualify to join the Essure implant open group action if you have been fitted with the Ensure device and have experienced painful symptoms as a result or have needed to have the implant removed.
According to Thompsons Solicitors, women with Essure implants can experience abdominal pain, allergies, fatigue, irregular periods or perforated fallopian tubes.
How Much Compensation Will I Receive?
If the Essure implant open group action is successful, claimants may be eligible for compensation.
Compensation will be determined in court.
How Do I Join?
If you believe you have a claim regarding Essure, register your interest with one of the representing law firms.
The law says you have three years from the time of your injury to register a claim; however, there are exceptions.
The following law firms are representing claimants in the Essure group action:
Bolt Burdon Kemp
Bridge McFarland LLP
PGMBM
Thompsons Solicitors
More law firms may be added.
A group action open claim is accepting claimants who have been affected by complications from the Essure sterilisation implant.
Essure implants have a high risk of complications, and women are more likely to require an operation later, the National Health Service (NHS) said in 2015. Essure is a small titanium implant that is used during a sterilisation procedure that blocks eggs from moving into the uterus.
Essure has been marketed as a noninvasive procedure, versus other sterilisation procedures, such as laparoscopic tubal occlusion, that require cuts to the body, according to the NHS.
The Guardian reported the Essure implant procedure was considered a mild surgery; women have been told it can be done in only 15 minutes and is permanent.
But sterilization via Essure implant has been found to be more difficult than women were led to believe: Thousands of women have had invasive surgery to remove the contraceptive, according to The Guardian.
One Dutch surgeon has removed Essure implants from almost 500 women, The Guardian reported. The surgeon says the Essure implant turns into a “calcified nail” in the body and says he has seen cases of the implant piercing through bodily tissue and travelling to the stomach.
An examination by over 50 organisations partnering with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) found that large numbers of women in the U.K., U.S. and Australia have endured complications. Women who received Essure implants have reported allergic reactions, chronic pelvic pain and incessant bleeding, according to The Guardian.
Thousands of women have had to endure surgeries or hysterectomies to remove the Essure implant due to the complications.
Health Europa has reported on the damaging effects an Essure implant can have.
One study showed that out of 1,128 U.S. women, 9.1% of those with an Essure implant had constant pelvic or low abdominal pain.
Uterine bleeding was seen in 16.3% of women with an Essure implant, compared with 10.2% of those treated with traditional sterilisation, according to Health Europa. In addition, women with Essure implants were more likely to need gynecological surgery.
The Financial reports that about 100,000 women in the U.K. have an Essure implant. Essure was approved for contraceptive use in 2002 but was removed from the U.K. market in 2017.
Lawyers representing women with Essure implants have urged its manufacturer Bayer to acknowledge the global claims made against the contraceptive device, The Financial reported.
Newly discovered documents from a 2008 Bayer audit show a giant backlog of women’s complaints about the Essure implant, according to The Financial. Regardless of the audit, Essure implants have still been marketed as a safer, gentler choice for women who are seeking contraceptive surgery.
Reuters reported U.S. women with Essure implants have won a $1.6 billion settlement for the pain and complications they endured after receiving the device.
PGMBM, one of the law firms representing Essure implant claimants, said it was happy about the settlement but is concerned about thousands of women around the world who have not yet received justice, according to The Financial.
“Essure is one of the most dangerous medical devices that has been put on the market in recent memory,” a PGMBM lawyer told The Financial. “Bayer was aware of the risks of severe complications but intentionally failed to inform the public. When the truth came out, Bayer took Essure off of the market but that was too late for the hundreds of thousands of women affected.”
“Now, Bayer has decided to compensate women in the United States for its incomprehensible conduct,” the lawyer said. “Do women in the U.K. not feel the same pain? Have they not endured the same suffering? It’s now time for Bayer to be held to account and to compensate the thousands of women in the U.K. who have suffered avoidable pain and suffering.”
