Lawsuit Update Center
The Paragard IUD is a widely used contraceptive device implanted in thousands of women. Unfortunately, the Paragard has certain design flaws making it highly prone to fracture during removal. Women who suffered serious injuries due to their Paragard IUD fracturing during removal are pursuing legal action against the device manufacturer and may be entitled to financial compensation.
UPDATES:
October 14, 2024: The MDL judge has issued an order addressing the case’s scheduling and discovery processes. The Defendants requested that bellwether discovery move forward alongside general discovery, while Plaintiffs objected, citing the Defendants’ delays in meeting their discovery obligations. Despite these concerns, the Court agreed to proceed with bellwether discovery in parallel to ensure the case progresses toward trial.
The Court also acknowledged the Plaintiffs’ concerns about the Defendants’ incomplete discovery. It set a deadline of March 15, 2025, for the Defendants to certify that all outstanding discovery has been completed. Additionally, the Court plans to hold a case management conference in January 2025 to review the Defendants’ compliance. Any unresolved objections by the Defendants to these timelines will be discussed at the next discovery conference. The judge noted that the issue surrounding custodial file productions remains unclear but will be addressed as necessary going forward.
April 11, 2024: A recent investigative report from Spotlight on America has uncovered that the FDA expressed concerns to CooperSurgical, the maker of the Paragard IUD, about the potential for the device to break during removal. This warning was issued following an FDA inspection of one of CooperSurgical’s Paragard IUD manufacturing facilities. Despite these concerns raised by the FDA, CooperSurgical appears to have taken no action in response to this warning.
April 1, 2024: The Paragard class action MDL is experiencing gradual but consistent growth as it enters its sixth year. In the past month alone, 55 new cases were added to the MDL, increasing the total number of cases to 2,615.
March 1, 2024: In recent months, the Paragard class action MDL has typically seen fewer than 20 new cases added per month. However, February marked a significant increase with 126 new Paragard cases added to the MDL, bringing the total number of pending cases to 2,570.
January 15, 2024: The Paragard class action MDL has seen the addition of only two new cases since the last monthly count. This likely does not signify a slowdown in pace but is more likely a consequence of the fact that the MDL case totals for this month were released two weeks earlier. Unsurprisingly, there were not many filings between December 15th and January 2nd.
Overview of the Paragard IUD
The Paragard, an intrauterine device (IUD), serves as a long-term contraceptive method for women. Manufactured by Teva Pharmaceuticals, it has been available since the late 1980s. This IUD features a specially designed copper coil linked to a plastic base and is inserted into a woman’s uterine cavity.
Once in place, the copper coil slowly dissolves over a span of 10 years. By releasing very small copper particles, it effectively obstructs fertilization by blocking sperm from reaching the egg. While the Paragard IUD has demonstrated high efficacy in birth control, it has encountered several issues over the years, including the recent problem of fracturing during removal, leading to potential harm and subsequent legal action by affected individuals.
Paragard Fractures During Removal
Similar to other IUD devices, the Paragard IUD is designed for easy removal from a woman’s body at any time. Ideally, the Paragard should maintain its integrity throughout its use and the removal process. However, a significant design flaw in the Paragard often leads to the device fracturing within a woman’s body during attempted removal.
The Paragard IUD has a distinct removal thread that extends from the device’s base into the woman’s vagina. Upon removal, doctors are expected to locate this thread and gently extract the device. The base of the Paragard contains two T-shaped arms responsible for securing the device in place. These arms consist of a flexible type of plastic intended to bend upward, facilitating the device’s passage through the cervix during removal.
Unfortunately, in numerous instances, the flexible plastic within the arms at the base of the Paragard appears to undergo a transformation, becoming brittle and rigid after residing inside the body for several years. As a result, when doctors attempt to remove the IUD, these arms fail to flex as intended. In such cases, one or both of the plastic arms of the Paragard IUD often undergo fracture and break into fragments inside the woman’s body.
Injuries Caused By Paragard Fracture
When the Paragard holding arms fracture and break off during the process of removal, the fragments of the device that break off inside the woman’s body can cause various internal injuries. The broken pieces of the Paragard often end up embedded in the uterine wall, which can cause extreme and chronic pain. In many cases, the arm fragments eventually puncture through the wall of the uterus and end up impacting other organs. This can cause several very serious health problems including:
- Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
- Chronic abdominal pain
- Vaginal bleeding
- Infection
- Infertility
Once the arms of the Paragard IUD break within the woman’s body, safely extracting them becomes a very challenging task. The initial approach involves attempting to locate and extract the fragments using a hysteroscopy procedure. This procedure entails inserting a small endoscopic device equipped with a camera through the cervix and into the uterine cavity, aiming to remove the fractured Paragard pieces. However, if these fragmented pieces have already become embedded in the uterine wall, hysteroscopic removal is typically not feasible.
In cases where hysteroscopic removal is not possible, the only alternative methods for extracting fragmented Paragard pieces involve: (a) surgically opening the uterine cavity, akin to a C-section procedure, or (b) performing a hysterectomy. Both options are invasive and carry significant implications—surgical access to the uterine cavity poses risks and potential complications, while a hysterectomy, while effective, results in permanent infertility for the woman.
Paragard IUD Class Action Lawsuit
Thousand of women who have suffered internal injuries as a result of their Paragard fracturing during removal have filed Paragard product liability lawsuits. All of these cases involve the same basic allegations: that the Paragard IUD had a design defect that caused it to fracture inside the body during removal.
The Paragard lawsuits began growing in number starting in late 2019 and in 2020 all Paragard lawsuits in federal courts were consolidated into a class action MDL. The Paragard MDL was assigned to Judge Leigh Martin May in the Northern District of Georgia.
Since it was first established, the Paragard class action MDL has grown very steadily each month in terms of new cases. It now has over 2,000 cases in the MDL. Unfortunately, the proceedings int the Paragard MDL have moved very slowly. The first bellwether trials in this MDL were not scheduled until nearly 3 years after the MDL began and they are still a year away.
Settlement Value of Paragard Lawsuits
Since there have not been any Paragard test trials to-date, it is too early to estimate the potential settlement value of these cases with any degree of certainty.
The settlement amounts in individual Paragard cases will significantly vary, contingent upon the severity of the plaintiff’s injuries resulting from the device fracturing during removal. In the event of a comprehensive settlement within the class action MDL, cases will be categorized into “tiers” based on the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries. The highest settlement tier will encompass plaintiffs who endured permanent and life-altering injuries due to Paragard device fractures. This might involve enduring consequences such as permanent infertility, particularly impacting younger plaintiffs, or severe infections. Cases falling within the lower settlement tiers will involve plaintiffs who experienced only transient pain and discomfort without lasting injury.
Our lawyers estimate that Paragard cases in the highest settlement tier (those with the strongest claims and most serious injuries) could have a payout value of $175,000 to $380,000. Plaintiffs who are ranked in the second settlement tier (Tier II) will most likely get settlement payouts in the range of $40,000-$75,000. Why the big dropoff from Tier I to Tier II? The reason for the big gap between our Tier I and II settlement estimates is the nature of the injuries that typically result when the Paragard IUD fractures. In a small percentage of cases, a fracture of the Paragard can result in very serious health problems, complications, and pain. These are going to be the Tier I cases for settlement purposes.
Outside of this small percentage of serious injury cases, however, the nature of the injuries caused by a Paragarad fracture is generally not that serious. There may be some pain, discomfort, and mental stress, but there are usually no permanent health consequences. These will be the lower tier cases for settlement purposes and there is clearly a significant drop off between the level of injuries compared to the top tier claims.
There will probably be a third settlement tier in the Paragard MDL. These Tier III cases will likely get very small settlement payouts in the range of $10,000 to $30,000.
Settlement Tier Estimated Settlement
Tier I $175,000-$380,000
Tier II $40,000-$75,000
Tier III $10,000-$30,000
Contact Us About a Paragard Lawsuit
If you had a Paragard IUD device that broke or fractured during the removal process (or while implanted) you probably have a valid claim for financial compensation. Contact us today at 800-553-8082 on contact us online for a free consultation.
