Woman Files Depo-Provera Meningioma Lawsuit After Needing Brain Surgery, Annual MRIs

A Virginia woman has filed a Depo-Provera lawsuit, indicating that she developed an intracranial meningioma after receiving the birth control shots for one year, which  required surgical removal and left her with permanent injuries and medical monitoring needs.

Holli Burket and her husband, Lester, filed a complaint (PDF) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on January 3, naming Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. LLC and Pharmacia LLC as defendants. The lawsuit accuses the manufacturers of failing to provide adequate warning to Depo shot recipients about the risks of brain tumors.

Depo-Provera is a hormonal birth control shot that was first introduced in 1992, containing a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, known as medroxyprogesterone. Following decades of advertisements that promoted the quarterly injection as a safe means of preventing pregnancy, Depo-Provera has been widely used by more than 70 million women in the U.S.

However, studies published last year raised concerns about the safety of the birth control shot, warning that Depo-Provera causes meningioma brain tumors to develop in some women, which can be life-threatening and often require surgical intervention.

This has led to women, like Burket, pursuing an increasing number of Depo-Provera meningioma lawsuits in U.S. District Courts nationwide, each raising similar allegations that women could have avoided brain tumors if the drug makers had provided adequate warnings about the importance of monitoring women receiving the birth control shots.

According to her lawsuit, Burket received Depo-Provera injections from approximately 1994 to 1995. Over time she developed dizziness, slurred speech, fatigue and neck problems.

In January 2023, Burket was diagnosed with intracranial meningioma following a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test. The scan revealed a 2.5 cm brain tumor, and she underwent brain surgery to have as much of it removed as possible.

Despite the successful procedure, doctors warned her that the cancer may return.

“Plaintiff may require radiation treatments in the future to prevent recurrence of her meningioma,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff will need to undergo follow-up MRIs annually.”

As a result, Burket presents claims of failure to warn, design defect, negligence, negligent failure to warn, negligent design defect, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of warranty. Her husband presents a claim of loss of consortium. They are seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

Depo-Provera Meningioma Lawsuits

The filing comes after a group of plaintiffs filed a motion seeking to create a Depo-Provera birth control shot multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of California in November. This includes consolidating all federal Depo-Provera meningioma lawsuits filed against Pfizer, who sold the brand name version of the drug, as well as manufacturers of generic equivalents, before one judge for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

Both Pfizer and generic manufacturers say they support Depo-Provera lawsuit centralization, but want the MDL based in the Southern District of New York, which is closer to their headquarters.

If the JPML agrees to consolidate the lawsuits into a Depo-Provera MDL, all current and future claims filed in federal court will be transferred to one judge for coordinated discovery, pretrial motions and potentially a series of early bellwether test cases.

However, if the parties fail to reach Depo-Provera brain tumor settlements or another resolution for the litigation after all pretrial proceedings are concluded, each individual lawsuit may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was initially filed for an individual trial in the future.

The U.S. JPML is scheduled to consider oral arguments on the motion at a hearing scheduled for January 30, 2025, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida.