‘It was a bad idea from the start’: Contraceptive coil class action begins

When Tanya Davidson started suffering debilitating symptoms soon after she underwent a new contraceptive procedure with a device called Essure, a gynaecologist told her it was all in her head.

When her sex drive suddenly dried up, a GP told her she could improve her libido by painting a wall in her room red.

Tanya Davidson wants a recognition her experience after being fitted with the Essure was real and not “in her head”.Credit: Jason South

Davidson, a busy mother of four young children, then in her 30s, said she was experiencing excessive bleeding, pain and hair loss so severe that it sometimes came out in clumps.

But she said it was an uphill battle to even get her symptoms recognised as real, even though some – such as a face rash – were clearly visible.

“I was a healthy woman before this,” she said. “[I had] so much energy.”

Davidson, who lives in Bendigo in Victoria, was among a group of women who travelled to the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne on Tuesday for the first day of a class action against six companies alleged to have been involved in Essure’s development or distribution.

Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company acquired Conceptus, the original manufacturer of Essure, in 2013.

As reports of adverse events linked to the irreversible procedure began mounting, Bayer stopped distributing the Essure in Australia in May 2017, citing business reasons.

The lead plaintiff in the case is 37-year-old Patrice Turner, who was fitted with the Essure device – two sharp coils inserted into the fallopian tubes – in September 2013 when she was a “fit and active 27-year-old”.

It’s alleged that after she underwent the irreversible procedure, she developed severe and sharp stabbing pain in her pelvis, had long-lasting periods, sex was painful and that she also experienced fatigue, headaches, joint and muscle pain and nausea.

“At times Ms Turner would bleed through her clothes and bed sheets,” Turner’s barrister, Fiona Forsyth, KC, said.

“She saw doctors, [had] ultrasounds and on one occasion attended an emergency department, but no one could give her an answer to her symptoms.”

Turner had a hysterectomy at the age of 32 to have the coils removed.

Bayer continues to stand by the safety and efficacy of Essure.

In a joint defence, the six companies, including Bayer Australia and German parent company Bayer AG, said there was no “signature” Essure injury that the women could point to as the cause of their symptoms.

Debra Hodges and Nina Bernius are among the women who say they were harmed by Essure.Credit: Jason South

They also argued the two principal symptoms said to result from use of the device – chronic pelvic pain and abnormal uterine bleeding – were commonly experienced by women of reproductive age.

“Inevitably, a significant number of those women would have suffered from one or both of those conditions in any event,” their written defence said.

Forsyth said that submission revealed the attitude of Bayer towards group members, arguing the companies couldn’t escape liability by writing off problematic effects as “common women’s symptoms”.

If there were any problems, the coils could be removed only by taking out women’s fallopian tubes or via a hysterectomy, a major surgery with significant risks, particularly for younger women.

Forsyth said the device should have never been invented or placed in women.

“It was a bad idea from the start,” she said.

The trial is set to run 12 weeks, examining the safety of Essure, the sufficiency of warnings given to patients and the quality of studies that were conducted into the device to support its use, which Forsyth said in some instances were failing to record adverse events properly.

Davidson continues to experience chronic illnesses including persistent fatigue after having her Essure coils removed in two surgeries in 2016, about six years after she first underwent the procedure.

On Tuesday, she was accompanied to the court by her 17-year-old daughter, Tahlia.

She said she could only ever remember her mother being unwell.

“I don’t know any different. She’s mum. This is just how it is,” Tahlia said. “It’s not in her head … we believe her. We believe what she is doing is right.”

The trial, which is yet to hear from defence counsel, continues.

With AAP

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