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Injuries from Dangerous Birth Control Devices4 min read

Stephen Smith

by | Nov 26, 2019

 

In 2018, Bayer, the German pharmaceutical company, announced it would stop the sale of the Essure birth device. Essure is an implant device. Thousands of women say it harmed them.

The withdrawal of Essure from the U.S. market followed a strict restriction on the sale of the device imposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Essure is not the only dangerous birth control device on the market. In recent years, coil devices and contraceptive pills have been linked to health issues in women and multiple lawsuits.

At the Smith Law Center, we can help women harmed by dangerous birth control devices and oral pills. With lawsuits pending against big companies like Bayer, it’s important to join mass tort actions if you have suffered serious injuries or illnesses. It’s also important to recognize when a condition has been caused by a product. Sadly, far too many women are suffering in silence, unaware their birth control is harming them.

What Are the Most Dangerous Birth Control Products on the Market?

Essure

Bayer’s Essure is a contraceptive device that causes sterilization. It is made of two-inch-long, flexible coils an alloy of nickel and titanium. The coils are inserted into the woman’s fallopian tubes, which carry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus. The devices work by forming scar tissue around the coils in three months, creating a barrier that prevents sperm from reaching the eggs.

More than 17,000 lawsuits have been filed by women who claim Essure harmed them. They claim the device fragmented, damaging tissue. In some cases, the device migrated, causing damage to the uterus or the pelvis. Some recipients claim Essure caused organ perforation to the uterus, fallopian tubes, or bowel. It is also linked to autoimmune diseases and death in some cases.

In 2018, the FDA took an almost unprecedented step of restricting the Essure device to only doctors and healthcare facilities who adopted the FDA-approved “Patient-Doctor Discussion Checklist.”

Yaz and Yasmin

Yaz and Yasmin are oral birth control pills made by Bayer. Users of the drugs report complications including heart, gallbladder and blood disorders such as blood clots as well as strokes. Users say Bayer should have known of the risks of using the contraceptive pills but failed to warn of them.

The lawsuits against Bayer include one brought by a woman from Illinois who was just 20 at the time she suffered a life-altering stroke after switching to Yaz from another form of birth-control pill. Bayer settled her case for $237,000.

Mirena IUD

Thousands of women nationwide sued Bayer Pharmaceuticals over the Mirena IUD contraceptive device. The lawsuits claim a wide range of complications. The first lawsuits claimed the birth control device perforated women’s organs, caused ectopic pregnancies and migrated out of the uterus.

Recently, Mirena was blamed for pressure buildups in the skull known as pseudotumor cerebri or intracranial hypertension.

As of the summer of 2018, there were about 2,400 active Mirena lawsuits. In April of the same year, Bayer reached a settlement in about 4,100 organ perforation cases.

The lawsuits accused Bayer of failing to issue warnings about a dangerous product. There have been no recalls of Mirena to date.

NuvaRing

NuvaRing is a contraceptive vaginal ring that is placed in the vagina for the purpose of birth control. It is linked to potentially-fatal conditions including heart attacks, blood clots, and strokes.

Thousands of women claimed the manufacturer Merck failed to warn them of the dangers. In 2014, Merck agreed to settle about 2,000 lawsuits brought by women.

Harmed by a Dangerous Birth Control Device? Talk to an Injury Lawyer

Birth control pills and devices are linked to a wide range of side effects ranging from depression and headaches to heart attacks and strokes. In some cases, the big drug companies put extremely hazardous products on the market that place profit before the safety of women. Often these companies fail to warn of dangerous side effects.

Devices like Essure have not only led to numerous lawsuits. In some cases, women claimed they did not even work in preventing pregnancies. If you have been harmed by a contraceptive device, you should talk to a Virginia injury lawyer as soon as possible to find out if you have grounds to file a lawsuit. Please contact the Smith Law Center today at (757) 244-7000.

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If you or a relative had a severe reaction to military housing mold, it might be time to talk with a toxic mold lawyer. Mold is everywhere, and can be dangerous. Researchers have linked mold to serious respiratory illnesses in some individuals.

Smith Law Center may be able to help if a property owner failed to keep you safe from mold in your military housing. We are one of Virginia’s oldest and most successful firms. We know how to hold negligent property owners responsible, especially when the military is involved.

Call us at (757) 244-700 or contact us online to set up a free consultation. There’s no fee for learning more about Virginia mold laws, your rights, and your legal options.

Mold in Military Housing

Black mold in military housing became widely known when Reuters published an investigation in 2018. Since then, the Department of Defense and the housing providers were supposed to take steps to improve the situation.

Unfortunately, a 2020 audit by the DoD Office of Inspector General found many issues, including the need for mold remediation, still persist.

Monetary Awards in Military Housing Toxic Mold Cases

If the property owner lets toxic mold run wild and continue to cause you harm, talk with our toxic mold attorneys about filing a lawsuit.

You may receive financial compensation for:

Service members and their families do not receive different types of damages than civilians. These are civil lawsuits in traditional courts of law.

Military Housing Mold Toxicity Symptoms

The Institute of Medicine discovered there was evidence connecting exposure to indoor mold with:

  • Upper respiratory tract symptoms;
  • Coughing;
  • Wheezing;
  • Asthma symptoms in individuals with asthma; and
  • Hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals with weak immune systems.

There is also limited evidence that mold causes respiratory illnesses in healthy children or causes people to develop asthma.

Understanding Exposure to Toxic Mold in Military Housing

The topic of toxic mold is complicated. This Is in part because the term “toxic mold” isn’t accurate. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains mold isn’t toxic or poisonous. However, some molds are toxigenic, which means they produce toxins called mycotoxins.

Mold is common in military housing because it’ll grow anywhere there’s moisture. That includes on and inside walls, carpet, upholstery, wallpaper, and heating and air conditioning systems. This is especially pronounced in humid conditions such as those present in Virginia.

Some people have no difficulties around mold, even large infestations in their homes. Other individuals are sensitive to molds, including those that produce mycotoxins. Someone can have a severe reaction when exposed to a large amount of mold indoors.

People may be more likely to experience mold toxicity symptoms if they have:

  • Allergies,
  • An underlying lung disease,
  • Immune suppression,
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder,
  • Asthma, or
  • Another chronic respiratory disease.

Common Types of Military Housing Mold

When you’re trying to learn more from the CDC and other resources, you’ll see the word “fungus” a lot. Mold is a type of fungus, which is something that exists all around us. Fungi are living organisms different from animals, plants, and bacteria. There are over 200,000 types of fungi and over 100,000 types of molds.

If you discovered mold in your military housing, it could be Cladosporium, Penicillium, Stachybotrys chartarum, Aspergillus, or many other types. Stachybotrys is what everyone knows as black mold. Aspergillus is a common indoor fungus, which releases mycotoxins and can cause illness. Your symptoms may resemble common allergy or asthma symptoms.

Who is Liable for Military Housing Mold?

Since 1996, most military housing has come under the management of private companies:

  • Belfour Beatty Communities: Fort Eustis and Fort Story/li>
  • Lincoln Military Housing: Dahlgren, Little Creek, Naval Station Norfolk, Northwest Annex, Oceana, Portsmouth, Quantico, and Yorktown/li>
  • Hunt Military Communities: Fort Lee and Langley AFB

Outside of Virginia, Lendlease and Corvias Military Living are two more housing providers. Together, these five companies formed the Military Housing Association.

Military families living in on-base housing must take their complaints to their private management company — not the military. The company is responsible for providing habitable conditions and making repairs, including mold remediation.

If you’re unsure about your rights, review your state law and local ordinances about mold. In general, it’s the landlord’s responsibility to provide a habitable unit, which means it has to be safe to live in. A unit isn’t safe if it’s causing a tenant health issues due to mold.

The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act requires landlords to disclose if there’s mold in the written report of the move-in inspection. If a tenant discovers visible mold in the unit, then the Act requires the landlord to remove the mold and relocate the tenant until it’s gone at no additional cost to the tenant.

Unfortunately, many families find their housing providers aren’t receptive to complaints. Attorney Stephen M. Smith has handled many mold lawsuits against military housing providers who fail to abide by their lease terms and the law when it comes to mold remediation and other hazards.

Other Hazards in Military Housing

Many service members and their families deal with uncomfortable, if not hazardous, conditions in privatized military housing, including:

Lead Paint: Lead-based paint can cause headaches, nausea, fatigue, irritability, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, seizures, organ damage, and in extreme cases, death.

Asbestos: Exposure to asbestos harms a person’s lungs, and can lead to lung fibrosis (scarring), lung cancer, and mesothelioma.

Radon: Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. It naturally forms underground, however cracks and gaps in buildings lead to over-exposure indoors.

Poor Water Quality: Dozens of military sites have water with detectable levels of harmful chemicals.

Other issues involve rodent or insect infestations, pesticides, and faulty electrical wiring.

What Happens When a Lot of People Get Sick?

Sometimes mold exposure impacts a single individual or family. However, when the mold spreads throughout military housing, it can impact hundreds or thousands of people.

Occasionally, a large enough group of people are injured to allow for a class action or mass tort lawsuit. A class action lawsuit is one where a class representative acts as the plaintiff on behalf of the group of hurt individuals. Not every victim participates in the lawsuit. There are rules about when a group is big and similar enough to create a class action.

Mass tort lawsuits are different. When there are fewer plaintiffs who have their own set of circumstances, each person files a lawsuit. For efficiency’s sake, one or a couple of law firms may represent most plaintiffs, and the lawsuits are consolidated in a federal court.

Call the Military Housing Mold Lawyers at Smith Law Center for Help Right Away

Mold cases come about in a few ways. You or a loved one may start getting sick, and after weeks or months of struggling to find answers, you finally realize your military housing has a mold infestation. In other cases, you struggle with visible mold and then become ill.

Once you connect the illness with the mold, it’s time to talk with a toxic mold lawyer. Reaching out to an attorney early helps you build a strong compensation claim. We know how to collect evidence, identify who is liable, and craft a successful argument for a settlement or court award.

Attorney Stephen M. Smith has decades of experience handling injury claims and has been internationally recognized for his work. He has litigated cases involving catastrophic injuries and complex legal and scientific issues. In 2019, he was inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame.

You’re in good hands when you come to Smith Law Center for help. Reach out online or call (757) 244-7000 to schedule your 100% free consultation.

Military Housing Mold Lawsuits: FAQs

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