Mirena Lawsuits Over Mirgration, Perforation Injuries Continue to Mount

Bayer Healthcare faces nearly 2,500 product liability lawsuits over the Mirena Intrauterine Device (IUD), as women throughout the U.S. continue to file claims alleging that the birth control implant migrated out of position after it was implanted, perforating organs, causing infections and other debilitating injuries. 

About half of the Mirena lawsuits are consolidated in the federal court system as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL), which is centralized before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel in the Southern District of New York, where there are now more than 1,000 cases being coordinated for pretrial proceedings, according to the latest docket update (PDF).

About another 1,250 cases are pending in New Jersey state court, where a case management conference was held today with Judge Brian R. Martinotti, who is presiding over the litigation in the state.

All of the complaints involve similar allegations that the drug maker knew or should have known about the risk of Mirena IUD complications, which plaintiffs claim spontaneously perforated the uterus following insertion.

As the number of new lawsuits filed by women who have experienced problems with Mirena moving out of position continues to increase, small groups of cases are being prepared for early trial dates. Known as “bellwether” cases, these trials are designed to help the parties gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that may be repeated throughout the litigation.

The first Mirena bellwether trials in the federal MDL are expected to begin in March 2016. While the outcomes of these trials will not be binding in other cases, they may influence eventual negotiations to settle Mirena injury lawsuits without the need for hundreds of individual claims to go before juries nationwide.

Mirena IUD Birth Control

Mirena birth control is a plastic T-shaped intrauterine device, or IUD, which is designed to be implanted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy for up to five years.

While Mirena has been promoted by Bayer as a “hassel-free” form of birth control, plaintiffs allege that the drug maker minimized information about potential Mirena IUD perforation risks that women may face in an attempt to increase sales.

Information about the potential for Mirena puncturing the uterus were included in the drug warnings, but plaintiffs maintain that the information misleadingly and incorrectly suggests that the risk only exists at the time of insertion. However, most of the lawsuits filed nationwide involve situations where Mirena migrated spontaneously, often long after the IUD was inserted and confirmed by the doctors to be in the correct position.

Since 2000, more than 70,000 adverse events have been filed with the FDA involving Mirena IUD problems, including at least 5,000 cases involving women who indicated that Mirena moved out of place since 2008, and 1,322 reports where the Mirena IUD punctured the uterus.

As Mirena injury lawyers continue to review cases for women throughout the United States, the number of lawsuits is expected to continue to increase in the coming months.