St. LOUIS – A California woman who claims to have suffered serious injury from the use of a birth control ring is suing several companies now linked to the product.
Renee Delgado filed her lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, claiming the NuvaRing she used led to her suffering "greatly and endured excruciating pain."
The same product was at the center of a 2014 multidistrict settlement in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, when Merck, which now owns the product, agreed to pay a total of $100 million.
Delgado named Merck and the original makers of the product, Organon, as defendants. Merck took over Organon some years ago.
The complaint does state there is potential the action will be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri for inclusion in In re: NuvaRing Products Liability Litigation.
Defendants market NuvaRing as the first and only, once-a-month vaginal birth control ring, and further markets NuvaRing® as providing the same efficacy as birth control pills or the patch in preventing pregnancy, but with more convenience, the complaint states.
"At all times material hereto, defendants failed to properly disclose the known safety hazards associated with NuvaRing," according to the plaintiff.
Delgado claims the defendants' alleged "willful and reckless acts" caused her to incur substantial medical and other expenses, and failed to warn her of the potential to develop deep vein thrombosis or a pulmonary embolism and death.