De La Paz v. Bayer Healthcare LLC

159 F. Supp. 3d 1085, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13058, 2016 WL 392972
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 2, 2016
DocketNo. C 15-03995 WHA
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 159 F. Supp. 3d 1085 (De La Paz v. Bayer Healthcare LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De La Paz v. Bayer Healthcare LLC, 159 F. Supp. 3d 1085, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13058, 2016 WL 392972 (N.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

WILLIAM ALSUP, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

INTRODUCTION

In this personal-injury action involving a permanent female contraceptive device, [1088]*1088defendants have moved to dismiss plaintiffs amended complaint. For the reasons stated below, defendants’ motion is GRANTED.

STATEMENT

Plaintiff Tanya De La Paz is an individual who resides in South Carolina who sought to have Essure, a permanent female contraceptive device, implanted in her fallopian tubes in July 2012. This action arises from several complications that De La Paz suffered as a result of alleged defects with the Essure device.

Defendants Bayer Healthcare LLC, Bayer Essure Inc., and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (collectively “Bayer”), manufactured, sold, distributed, and marketed Essure. Essure was first designed and manufactured by Conceptus, Inc., which merged with Bayer in 2013 (for the purpose of this order, references to “Bayer” include Conceptus). Bayer also trained physicians how to use Essure and equipment related to implanting the device.

•1. The Essure Device.

Bayer designed the Essure device to insert a metal coil known as a “micro-insert” into each of a patient’s fallopian tubes. Once released, the micro-inserts expanded and anchored themselves into the fallopian tubes, and fibers in the micro-inserts elicited tissue growth, ultimately blocking the fállopian tubes and preventing pregnancy. Patients’ physicians implanted the micro-inserts with a “disposable delivery system” that included a handle for the physician to control the delivery and release of the micro-inserts, which were attached to the handle with a wire (Amd. Compl. ¶¶ 19-21, 24-26).

Physicians used hysteroscopic cameras in order to visualize the implanting procedure. Bayer did not manufacture hystero-scopic equipment; however, it provided equipment manufactured by a third party to physicians as part of its efforts to market Essure in exchange for physicians’ commitments to purchase two Essure kits per month and trained them in the use of that equipment (id. ¶¶ 22-23, 50-64).

Three months following any implanting procedure, patients were scheduled for hysterosalpingogram tests, which confirmed whether the micro-inserts anchored in the correct location and that tissue had grown to completely block the fallopian tubes as intended.

2. Premarket Approval.

Medical devices are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration pursuant to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act and the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 (“MDA”). 21 U.S.C. § 360c et seq. Pursuant to the MDA, Essure was (and remains) designated as a Class III medical device, which means its design, manufacturing process, and labeling underwent the rigorous scrutiny of the FDA’s premarket approval process. See 21 U.S.C. § 360e. A device is classified under Class III (and therefore subject to premarket approval) when the less stringent classifications cannot provide reasonable assurance of its safety and effectiveness, and the device is used either “in supporting or sustaining human life or for a use which is of substantial importance in preventing impairment of human health” or it “presents a potential or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.” 21 U.S.C. § S60c(a)(l)(C).

A Class III device may only win approval to be marketed if the FDA finds, based on a multi-volume application including detailed investigations into the safety and effectiveness of the device and its labeling, that there is a “reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of [that] device....” 21 U.S.C. § 360e(d); see also Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 552 U.S. 312, [1089]*1089317-18, 128 S.Ct. 999, 169 L.Ed.2d 892 (2008) (describing premarket approval in detail). The determination of the safety' and effectiveness of a device is made in part by “weighing any probable benefit to health from the use of the device against any probable risk of injury or illness from such use.” 21 U.S.C.A. § 360c.

The FDA approved Essure through the premarket approval process in 2002 subject to certain conditions, such as regular reporting on efficacy, reporting of all adverse events, and seeking approval for any change to the device (Defs.’ Request for Judicial Notice, Exh. B).

Bayer received several Form 483s, which are reports written by FDA investigators revealing potential violations discovered during an inspection of a manufacturing facility. Specifically, in June 2008, Bayer received a Form 483 that indicated that since 2005, it had been “manufacturing medical devices... at an unlicensed facility,” that it had “failed to maintain procedures to control documents” relating to the maintenance of pre-sterile and post-sterile quarantine cages, and that its facility “no longer use[d] pre-sterile and post-sterile cages” (Amd. Compl. ¶¶ 105(d)-(e); Defs.’ Supp. Request for Judicial Notice, Exh. D at l).1

In January 2011, Bayer received another Form 483 that indicated its contract manufacturer had “erroneously used non-eon-forming material in a validation protocol without adequately documenting the disposition of the material,” although “the FDA inspection did not note any deficiencies with regard [to] the firm’s handling of nonconforming material” and that “the firm corrected this discrepancy prior to the close of the inspection.” Finally, that Form 483 noted that Bayer “had not properly evaluated eight complaints of peritoneal perforation for reporting to the FDA as an adverse event” (Amd. Compl. ¶¶ 105(b) — (c); Defs.’ Supp. Request for Judicial Notice, Exh. C at 1).

3. De La Paz’s Experience with Essure.

De La Paz underwent a procedure to have Essure implanted in July 2012; however, the implanting physician abandoned the procedure after the device perforated one of De La paz’s fallopian tubes, which caused bleeding. De La Paz returned to her physician in September 2012 for a second attempt, which the physician completed. After the second procedure, De La Paz began to experience severe bleeding and constant pain (Amd. Compl. ¶¶ 71-72).

In December 2012, De La Paz returned to her physician for the standard hystero-salpingogram test to confirm that the device had anchored in the proper location and elicited tissue growth. The test revealed that the left micro-insert was properly implanted, but the right micro-insert appeared stretched or broken. Upon discovering this irregularity, De La Paz’s physician contacted Bayer, which stated that the right micro-insert needed to be removed. In February 2013, De La Paz underwent surgery to have her right fallopian tube removed along with the broken micro-insert that had anchored there, which she had been informed would relieve her symptoms (Amd. Compl. ¶¶ 73-76).

[1090]*1090De La Paz continued to experience daily pain and heavy bleeding, as well as weight gain, stomach issues, pelvic pain, and mental and emotional anguish.

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159 F. Supp. 3d 1085, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13058, 2016 WL 392972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-la-paz-v-bayer-healthcare-llc-cand-2016.