Mirena Litigation Update

St. Louis, MOAnother Mirena IUD lawsuit was filed last week, adding to more than 1,000 lawsuits filed in state and federal courts on behalf of women who allegedly suffered serious Mirena birth control side effects, including Mirena uterine perforation.

Because so many Mirena lawsuits have been filed, the courts have consolidated to save court resources. And attorneys predict the number of women yet to file a Mirena lawsuit will increase in the coming months.

More than 660 Mirena IUD lawsuits continue to move forward in a multi-county litigation (MDL) now underway in New Jersey’s Bergen County Superior Court. The Court has approved procedures for the electronic service of documents in order to facilitate expeditious, efficient, and economical communication by and amongst counsel, according to a Case Management Order issued on March 13, 2014. (In Re: Mirena Litigation; Case No. 297.) Another 428 claims have been filed in a federal multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. (In re: Mirena IUD Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2434.)

Women who filed the Mirena IUD lawsuits allege that they suffered uterine perforations, organ damage, infections, scarring, ectopic pregnancies and other injuries following the spontaneous migration of the contraceptive device.

In another separate case, Deanna Delancy, 27, is suing the Washington University’s medical school. She accuses them of conducting an unethical research trial with Mirena. Delancy said researchers sent her gift cards for groceries, fuel and convenience items after she filled out medical surveys. Delancy said that using the Mirena soon after she gave birth resulted in two heart valve surgeries and a chronic illness, requiring her to take a blood thinner to prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clots. The lawsuit alleges university researchers ignored prescribing information published by Mirena maker Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, which says the device can’t be inserted earlier than four to six weeks after a woman gives birth. It is unfortunate that Bayer doesn’t expand upon its warnings…

The FDA has received thousands of adverse event reports, including device migration and uterine perforations. Bayer has also been accused of over-marketing its contraceptive and understating the potential side effects (in 2009, the FDA sent Bayer a warning letter). These 660 women who have filed Mirena lawsuits - and they are likely the tip of the iceberg - bought into Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ marketing ploys, such as the following:

• Birth control for busy moms
• Lasts as long as YOU want, for up to 5 years.
• Over 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy
• Your periods may become shorter, lighter or even stop

Perhaps Bayer should add to that list the risks involved, such as the potentially dangerous problems of Mirena migration and/or uterine perforation.