Woman Will Need Lifelong Monitoring After Depo-Provera Brain Tumor: Lawsuit

Regular CT scans and MRIs will be required to monitor for a return of the brain tumor caused by Depo-Provera birth control shots, lawsuit alleges.

An Ohio woman has filed a lawsuit claiming she developed a brain tumor from 10 years of Depo-Provera birth control shots, which has left her with the need to undergo scans and medical tests for the rest of her life, to monitor for its return.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Christine Shepherd in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on August 12, naming Pfizer, Inc., Depo-Provera’s manufacturer, and Pharmacia & Upjohn, LLC and Pharmacia LL, who both made generic versions of the drug, as the defendants.

Depo-Provera (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DMPA) is a birth control shot women only need to receive four times per year to prevent pregnancy. Given the convenience over taking a daily birth control pill, the shot has been used by more than 70 million women since it first hit the market more than 30 years ago.

However, Shepherd’s claim joins a growing number of other women who have filed Depo-Provera brain tumor lawsuits in recent months, after a series of studies were published last year linking Depo-Provera injections to increased intracranial meningioma risks.

All of the complaints allege that the manufacturers knew, or should have known, that Depo-Provera use could result in brain tumors, but failed to warn recipients or the medical community about the full risks. As more women like Shepherd learn that their brain tumors may be connected to Depo-Provera use, the size and scope of the litigation is expected to continue to rise.

Shepherd indicates she began receiving Depo-Provera injections in 1994 and continued to receive the shots for 10 years, until 2004. Most of the injections were Pfizer’s brand name product, but she also indicates that a small number of shots near the end of her use were generic versions.

The lawsuit alleges that, because of the injections, Shepherd began experiencing headaches, balancing issues, seizures and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). She was diagnosed with an intracranial meningioma in 2023 and underwent a right perieto-occipital craniotomy to resection the tumor.

Although the surgery was considered successful, Shepherd must undergo medical monitoring, including MRIs and CT scans, on a regular basis for the rest of her life in case the tumor returns, the complaint notes. It is hard to remove all of a brain tumor, and often there are cells left which could grow and mutate into another malignancy.

“Plaintiff remains at a high risk of developing worsening neurological symptoms in the future and may necessitate radiation therapy or a craniotomy should her meningioma grow in size or return in the future. Such uncertainty surrounding Plaintiff’s medical condition and the possibility of worsening neurological injuries including the risk of future surgical intervention has caused and will continue to cause Plaintiff serious psychological injuries and emotional distress.”

–Christine Shepherd v. Pfizer Inc. et al

Shephard presents claims for strict liability-failure to warn, strict liability-design defect, negligence, negligent failure to warn, negligent design defect, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and breach of express and implied warranty. The lawsuit seeks both compensatory and punitive damages, and to have defendants pay for the cost of her medical monitoring.

Depo-Provera Brain Tumor Lawsuits

Shepherd’s claim will be consolidated with other Depo-Provera brain tumor lawsuits in the Northern District of Florida under U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Seeking a quick resolution to the litigation, Judge Rodgers already has the parties preparing five “pilot” cases for early test trials, to see how juries respond to evidence and testimony that would likely be repeated in hundreds or thousands of federal trials.

If no settlement agreement is reached after these “bellwether” test cases, Judge Rodgers may remand all of the claims back to their originating home districts for individual trial dates.

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