Mirena IUD Litigation: Consolidation begins to take shape in New York federal court

In the March 2013 issue of Lawyers USA, Motley Rice member and medical device lawyer Carmen Scott said of the growing mass tort surrounding the Mirena® intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD), “It’s going to be a very large tort. Thousands and thousands of women have been affected in this way and will likely come forward.” To date, about 50 lawsuits associated with the Mirena IUD have been coordinated in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) before a New York federal judge. It is estimated that more than two million women in the United States have used this device in the past ten years.

Manufactured by New Jersey-based Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Mirena is an IUD device that a trained health care provider must insert and is intended to provide contraceptive protection for up to five years. Some women have reported serious adverse side-effects and potentially life-threatening complications following the implantation of the Mirena device, including perforation of or imbedment in the uterus. Other potential side effects that have been reported include infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and birth of a child with a defect.

Scott was also interviewed for two articles in The National Law Journal, “Bayer’s Mirena IUD Targeted in MDL” and “Bayer IUD Litigation Consolidated in New York.”