A class action lawsuit representing approximately 1,000 Australian women will go before the Supreme Court of Victoria this week. 

The case relates to severe side effects from the ‘Essure’ device - a contraceptive procedure described as a “radical breakthrough”, marketed as a gentler sterilisation method for women who no longer wish to have children. 

The process involves inserting a metal coil into each fallopian tube, which creates scar tissue to block the tube in a bid to prevent pregnancy. 

Reports of piercing the womb or breaking the implant, metal poisoning, extreme hair loss, chronic pain, fatigue and bleeding, repeated miscarriages and pregnancies, and a feeling of despair are among the many dozens of adverse event reports lodged with Australia’s medical devices regulator. 

Because the procedure was irreversible, more than half of the women had to resort to hysterectomy or removal of fallopian tubes to get the device out of their bodies. 

Lawyers representing the women argue that the initial clinical trials only focused on the procedure's effectiveness, not its safety. 

“We question why it was developed in the first place,” says Slater and Gordon senior associate Kylie Trounson. 

While Bayer paid out around $2.4 billion to settle lawsuits in the US, the company continues to deny there have been widespread problems with Essure.

More details are accessible here.