Jacinta Allan slams Justice Andrew Keogh’s ruling in class action against Bayer Australia’s Essure contraceptive

Premier Jacinta Allan has lashed a judge’s ruling over a contraceptive device after he dismissed thousands of Australian women’s claims of severe pain from the device as “far from compelling”.

Premier Jacinta Allan has lashed out at a Victorian Supreme Court judge’s ruling on the failed class action brought by thousands of women against Bayer Australia, saying we have to stop telling women to “have a Panadol and lie down” when they are suffering serious medical conditions.

Justice Andrew Keogh on Tuesday in the Victorian Supreme Court ruled against thousands of women’s claims against the pharmaceutical company and found that the device was not at fault for the women’s ill health.

“Chronic pelvic pain and abnormal uterine bleeding commonly affect women of reproductive age,” Justice Keogh said when he handed his judgment down.

Premier Jacinta Allan had a fiery response to Justice Andrew Keogh’s ruling. Picture: Nadir Kinani

In a fiery response to his comments, on Wednesday Ms Allan said: “I have got lots of thoughts about this judgment as you can probably well imagine”.

“I was personally quite horrified by those comments and this is exactly why we are having an inquiry into women’s pains right now in Victoria because for too long women’s pain — legitimate pain, real pain, severe pain — has been ignored for far too long.

“It’s being dismissed as something, ‘that’s just women’s problems, just put up with it, go and have Panadol and lie down’. We’ve got to put these days behind us.”

Thousands of Australian women lost a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer of permanent metal coil contraceptive device Essure.

Ms Allan has previously revealed publicly that she has suffered endometriosis and said that women are not being taken seriously.

The trial had been running for 12 weeks with evidence was presented of thousands of women suffering pain including young women requiring hysterectomies and other invasive surgeries to remove Bayer Australia devices.

Evidence was presented throughout the trial of thousands of women suffering pain who had used the birth control device. Picture: David Crosling

The class action, commenced by Slater and Gordon, alleged Bayer Australia and its distributors breached consumer protection laws and their duty of care to consumers in producing a device that has serious risks of harm of this nature.

Justice Keogh said: “The clinical evidence does not support general causation. I am not satisfied Essure can cause ongoing chronic inflammation in some women, resulting in chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhoea or abnormal uterine bleeding.”

The Inquiry into Women’s Pain – part of a $153m women’s health transformation – was launched in January by Ms Allan.
Submissions closed for the inquiry on July 31.