Birth control (and lack thereof) will always be a hot topic amongst women. Avoiding pregnancy can be difficult and come with its own complications, and depending upon where you live, the availability of certain birth control methods will vary.
Thankfully, women’s clinics like Planned Parenthood and other women-focused medical centers offer a variety of different birth control methods that might be hard to find if you are lacking in secular doctors and gynecologists in your area. But what should you do if the method you rely upon fails or ends up making you sick? This is an issue that thousands of women in America each year are faced with, and has even been the subject of multiple class-action and individual suits.
Types of Birth Control
For those who may not be aware, here’s a quick overview of the types of birth control that most women use.
Birth Control Pill – This is the most widely-used contraceptive. All it requires is taking a birth control pill each day to avoid pregnancy, but many birth control pills can come along with awful side effects and may not be effective if they aren’t used 100% correctly.
Implant – Most often, an implant is surgically implanted into a patient’s arm, where it releases birth control hormones on a monthly cycle. However, the implant can easily get lost or move, causing other issues down the line.
IUD – An IUD, like the implant, also requires a surgical procedure. The IUD is implanted within the uterus, where it either releases birth-control hormones or, if it’s a copper IUD, works by suppressing uterine hormones to prevent pregnancy.
Essure – Up until recently, Essure was a birth control implant that made the user sterile while it was used. For women who wanted to be permanently sterilized, Essure was an easy way to do so. However, allegations of Essure not working or causing issues resulted in the FDA pulled Essure off the market.
Past Lawsuits Dealing with Defective Birth Control
When using birth control, the user has to understand that there will be a certain degree of risk that it may fail, but there are several other issues that arise when using a defective birth control medication or device. For instance, thousands of women have sued Bayer Pharmaceuticals over the IUD device Mirena, which not only failed for many women as birth control, but also caused perforation of organs like the uterus as well as abnormal fluid buildup within the skull. Only one settlement is publicly disclosed, but so far Bayer has compensated these victims with a total of $12.2 million dollars.
Other lawsuits abound, especially around the sterilization implant, Essure. In 2002, Essure was approved as a non-surgical permanent birth control option by the FDA and its use began in earnest. However, after 16 years on the market, Bayer pulled Essure due to a “decline in sales”–although it’s obvious that many of the medical issues it caused were the primary reason that it was taken off the market. Its many side effects included uterine and fallopian tube perforation, bladder and bowel injury, vaginal bleeding, and serious allergic reactions.
Closeup of pregnancy test and contraceptive pills birth control concept
How to Deal with Birth Control Injuries and Unintended Pregnancy
If you have dealt with an adverse reaction to birth control or had a trusted birth control method fail on you, there’s no doubt that you are in a tough spot. Unwanted pregnancy can take a huge mental toll upon a person, and that’s not even taking into account the physical problems that can come along with pregnancy.
While it is scary to come to terms with the fact that your birth control may be making you sick or is not effective at preventing pregnancy, there are many personal injury attorneys out there who are willing to go an extra mile to ensure that you receive compensation to cover medical bills or the cost of having an unwanted child.