Norplant removal unsafe, suit says

By JOE NICHOLSON

About 200 women have filed suit against the maker of the birth control device Norplant, claiming they were maimed when the device was removed.

Gina Fietsam, one of the lawyers who filed the suit, said some of her clients suffered "permanent nerve damage in their arms because doctors were digging around to try to get the Norplant out."

"We think it's a time bomb," Fietsam said. "As more and more women have them removed, we believe more and more women will have complications with the removal procedures."

Claims in the lawsuit contradict the results of Norplant trials and the successful experience Planned Parenthood has had with the device.

I Manufacturer Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories said the $350 birth control device is "99% effective and well tolerated."

Norplant consists of six small hormone-releasing rods that are implanted into the upper arm.

More than 900,000 American women have had the device implanted since it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1990. The device becomes ineffective and must be removed after five years.

The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, is 'a class action suit for all American women who have had problems with Norplant.

Dr. Michael Policar, a national vice president of Planned Parenthood, said his organization has implanted nearly 30,000 devices with little difficulty. But Policar said he has heard that private doctors and nurse-practitioners with inadequate training have had trouble removing the devices.

However, Policar and Lybia Burgos, a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood's 380 Second Ave. clinic, said the group warns women that the device sometimes causes such side effects as excessive vaginal bleeding and minor hair loss.