Essure Birth Control Implant Lands an Advocate

Bayer gained an ally in the ongoing dispute over its contraceptive implant, dubbed Essure. Joseph Gregory, an analyst at GlobalData, stated that claims made by Erin Brockovich, a public safety advocate, were "unsubstantiated."In total, there are approximately 800 adverse event reports associated with the Essure device. This number must be balanced against the 16,300 physicians who have performed the medical procedure at some time. Assuming that each physician performed the procedure 10 times (a lower-limit guess), the procedural volume for the U.S. alone would be 163,000. This would indicate an adverse event rate of less than 1%.Brockovich took an interest in the Essure birth control implant after her organization received a number of letters from women who alleged injuries caused by the system. Alleged injuries and symptoms include colon perforations, chronic pain, improper device movement, headaches, pregnancies and more. Through a variety of different mediums, Brockovich spoke out against the device."While the reported adverse cases are very serious and represent potential issues with the Essure device, or the procedure itself, they have to be considered in reference to how many patients in total have utilized and benefitted from this procedure, Although the adverse event profile may seem immensely large when highlighted, it isn't large enough to surpass 1%," noted Gregory.