Essure birth control is a medical device designed to provide permanent sterilization. Since 2002, about 750,000 women worldwide have undergone Essure sterilization procedures.
Although the device has been marketed as a safe and effective means of preventing pregnancy, thousands of women have described problems with Essure. Plaintiffs sued the manufacturer of Essure asserting various injuries caused by Essure, including, autoimmune disorders, blood clotting, boils, complex ovarian cysts, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, ectopic pregnancy, migraines, rashes, severe abdominal, back and menstrual pain, unexpected pregnancy and uterine fibroids.
“Each of these lawsuits arise from the injuries Plaintiff sustained after being implanted with Essure, which is a permanent birth control device that is manufactured and distributed by Bayer by Bayer Corp., Bayer HealthCare LLC, Bayer Essure Inc., Conceptus Inc., Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, and Bayer A.G., the Plaintiff’s petition stated. “As of July 14, there have been 30 lawsuits filed on behalf of over 1,000 plaintiffs in five district across the country, and even more expected to be filed in the near future.”
“After the FDA approved Essure for sale in 2002 and it began to be implanted in patients, defendant became aware of serious adverse events that should have led them to directly inform healthcare providers and consumers of these risks by revising the warning label for the device and report the adverse events to the FDA,” Plaintiff contend. “Defendants failed to warn healthcare providers and consumers about roughly 16,000 complaints of serious injuries associated with Essure after the device was approved for sale. Defendants also failed to timely report that information to the FDA.”
Plaintiffs in several Essure actions pending in the Pennsylvania federal court have asked the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) to create a Multi District Litigation (“MDL”) for the lawsuits. In a July 21, 2016 motion, Plaintiffs urge the JPML to transfer the cases to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and assign Judge Gerald A. McHugh, who is overseeing Essure cases, to manage the litigation.
“There exist many common questions of fact in these cases,” Plaintiffs assert. “While these cases may have individualized fact issues such as injuries sustained, such issues should not impeded the consolidation and coordination of this litigation, as Section 1407 does not require a complete identify or even a majority of common factual issues as a prerequisite to centralization.”
Plaintiffs assert, “the cases involve common questions of fact; will promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation; will eliminate duplicative discovery; will prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings; and will conserve judicial resources.”
On August 11, 2016, the JPML issued a notice of hearing, indicating that oral arguments for the Essure cases would be heard on September 29, 2016. On Aug. 11, 2016, Plaintiffs moved to withdraw their motion for a MDL, saying that United States Judge Petrese B. Tucker of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania consolidated 18 Essure cases pending in the District Court. On Aug. 12, 2016, the JPML allowed Plaintiffs to withdraw their motion to centralize Essure birth control device lawsuits and vacated a September 29, 2016 hearing on the motion (In Re: Essure Birth Control Device Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2739).
