x
Breaking News
More () »

Elizabethtown woman speaks out about birth control device that she says caused miscarriage

ELIZABETHTOWN — Uncontrollable pain and the inability to get out of bed. It’s something one Elizabethtown woman says she suffers from several times ...

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Uncontrollable pain and the inability to get out of bed.

It's something one Elizabethtown woman says she suffers from several times a month.

Cass Beck says the birth control device, Essure, implanted nearly 6 years ago, caused her to have a miscarriage.

And it turns out, other women across the country have had the same experience.

Beck says started having problems over the summer, "Almost like severe cramping and sometimes I can actually feel them moving. I can feel the heat and almost tearing of the coils."

She had the device, Essure, implanted in 2010 because at that time, she didn't want to have any more kids. She said her doctor told her it was safe.

Everything was fine, until she got pregnant in May... and miscarried in August.

"It was awful, and I had told my daughters who are 5 and 6 that we were having a baby and I had to tell them that I was wrong."

Cass says now the pain is uncontrollable and she wasn't made aware of the side effects.

"It was 99.9% effective, nobody had issues." Said Cass.

Penn State Hershey Medical Gynecologist Gerald Harkins says it was known from the beginning that women could experience pain.

Dr. Harkins says Essure devices have been around since 2002.

The device's coils are meant to fuse to the fallopian tubes and block ovarian eggs from reaching the uterus.

But, he's not sure the side effects were thoroughly explained.

Dr. Harkins says, "The disservice to the patients and to the women is when they've come back, it sounds as though a lot of women have been sort of told no they can't be related, no your symptoms are not part of the discussion and they're sort of dismissed."

That's the exact battle that Cass and thousands of other women across the country are fighting.

A Facebook group, titled "Essure problems" has nearly 30 thousand members, and shows stories detailing the painful problems and even deaths women with the device, face everyday.

"I started to find a lot of other women... some women have gotten pregnant and carried to term but you have about a 65% chance of a miscarriage if you get pregnant with the Ensure in because those coils puncture things." Said Cass.

Justice is not as easy as just filing a lawsuit. Essure is classified as a class 3 device by the FDA and qualifies for preemption. Meaning, lawsuits can't be brought against the device's manufacturer, Bayer.

It's one of the reasons why activist, Erin Brockovich got involved.

Brockovich says, "It's a bad product and these women don't want other women harmed and this is just a huge movement that they have on their part to get information out there and make other women aware so they can make different choices."

The FDA is expected to make an announcement in the next few days regarding whether to restrict the use of the device, change the product's label or recommend additional clinical trials.

Cass as well as thousands of others want Bayer to be held responsible.

"If I make a mistake at work I'm held responsible." Said Cass, "There are women that have died. There are women who go through much worse than I've been through.. the symptoms I mean.. your hair can fall out, the bloating is constant, I'm in pain all the time."
Monday on FOX43  - a local woman discovers reports of hundreds of fetal deaths because of Essure. She explains why the FDA's reporting system is flawed.

Before You Leave, Check This Out