The lawsuit indicates White began receiving Depo injections in 2018 and continued to get them every three months for the last six years. The injections consisted of both brand name Depo-Provera and generic versions.
“Over time, Plaintiff developed symptoms, including intense headaches and vision issues,” the lawsuit states. “After several MRI’s, Plaintiff was diagnosed with an intracranial meningioma.”
According to the complaint, the brain tumor was 1.8 x 1.8 x 1.2 cm in size and was discovered in September 2023. However, since neither White nor her doctors were informed by the manufacturers that there was a link between the Depo-Provera injection and brain tumors, she continued to receive the injections.
White was told by doctors that, as far as they knew, it was safe to keep receiving Depo-Provera injections. However, she elected to stop receiving the injections before learning about the associated risk of brain tumors in March 2024.
Two months later, in May, White underwent a procedure known as a craniectomy, which involved drilling holes in her skull to access the tumor, which was carefully removed, though some portions had to be left behind to avoid a vascular injury.
She now suffers weakness on her left side and has had to undergo in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation. White is scheduled to undergo another MRI next month to determine the state of the remaining tumor.
She presents claims of strict liability, failure to warn, design defect, negligence, negligent failure to warn, negligent design defect, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of warranty.
Failure to Warn About Depo-Provera Injection Meningioma Risks
White’s lawsuit points out that the Depo-Provera warning label in Canada has listed “meningioma” among the known “Post-Market Adverse Drug Reactions” since at least 2015.
In addition, the labels provided for women receiving the birth control injection in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom now list meningioma under the “special warnings and precautions for use” sections. However, the same warnings were not provided to doctors or women receiving the birth control injection in the United States.
“The [U.S.] warnings, or lack thereof, that were given by Defendants failed to properly warn prescribing physicians, including Plaintiff’s prescribing physicians, of the known and knowable risk of serious and potentially irreversible injuries related to the development of intracranial meningioma, and failed to instruct prescribing physicians to test and monitor for the presence of injuries and to discontinue use when symptoms of meningioma manifest,” according to allegations raised by White in the complaint.