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It was a contraceptive device used by thousands of Australian women, but many say Essure left them in extreme pain and needing hysterectomies.
One thousand patients are taking the pharmaceutical giant Bayer to court.
Debra Liberali and Jacqueline Logeman-Jansen are two of the women involved in the case. They've given lawyers years of medical reports, explaining how no one seemed to know what was going on.
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Liberali, a self employed cleaner, told 9News when she was first prescribed the implant "it sounded like the best thing since sliced bread".
But she knew straight after the procedure in 2004 that something was wrong.
Over years the pain would come and go with no warning.
"It was like a sharp stabbing, knife in the stomach type of pain," she says. It meant she often had to lose days of work or pull her car over to curl up in the fetal position.
The device, a metal coil, was inserted in each fallopian tube, designed to create scar tissue to prevent pregnancy.
Medical reports show some broke apart, allegedly piercing organs and travelling through the body.
It took 18 years from having the device implanted to having her fallopian tubes removed for Liberali to find relief.
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She says doctors had no answers, only a Facebook support group of women who had suffered the same symptoms.
"I'm very angry and frustrated and betrayed, that you have to find out through other women," she says.
Logeman-Jansen also decided to use Essure because it seemed like a less invasive form of contraception.
She's now undergone a full hysterectomy. Before that she bounced from specialist to specialist and was even admitted to a pain centre.
"Where I was told basically it's all in my head," she says.
"I got very, very heavy periods, the cramping got so bad I was literally curled up on the floor in pain."
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The yoga teacher had to cut down her work days, the cost forcing her to downsize and re-mortgage.
She had multiple surgeries after ending up with a hole in her bladder.
She only found out it might be Essure causing her health problems when her husband read about legal action in a British newspaper.
"I think what most of us really want to hear is sorry," she says.
"We're stuck with this for life."
Kylie Trounson, a senior associate with Slater and Gordon, took on the class action three years ago.
"I've had hundreds of phone calls from women, I've been struck by how deeply affecting these stories are and how profoundly their lives have been affected, and in some cases destroyed by this device."
She explains the side effects they've experienced – from extreme pain to extremely heavy bleeding – have often left them bedridden.
"The time that they lost with their children while they were growing up, time that they lost in their careers, the issues that being so unwell brought up in their marriages … it's very emotional for some of those women to relive that."
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Slater and Gordon says the initial clinical trials were not focused on the long term safety of the device.
Holding the coil that fits into a tiny vial, Trounson explains how its spring loaded action can affect the body.
"It causes initially an acute inflammation response and then a chronic inflammation response that continues in the woman for the rest of her life."
Bayer stopped selling Essure in 2017 but the company has defended the product.
"We are confident that the evidence in this case will demonstrate the company is not responsible for the alleged injuries," Bayer said a statement.
"Bayer stands behind the safety and efficacy of Essure which is supported by an extensive body of research (including 10 clinical trials and over 70 real-world observational studies), undertaken by Bayer and independent medical researchers, involving more than 270,000 women over the past two decades."
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It will be up to a judge to decide the fate of the 1000 Australian women in Victoria's Supreme Court.
The civil trial is expected to run for three months.
Bayer has already settled a similar claim in the US, paying out nearly $2.5 billion.
"Women over there suffered the same injuries with the same device in the same anatomy," says Trounson.
"That's one of the elements that has hurt the women behind in the Australian class action."
"Our biggest question as a group right now is how come you're still going ahead with the court case in Australia," Logeman-Jansen says.
"Do you think that Australia's on the bottom of the world, that we don't know how to do stuff? You can't just treat us like guinea pigs."
As well as the years of medical evidence and personal pain the women have had to share with lawyers, the lead plaintiff will face cross examination along with her loved ones.
Dozens of women from the Facebook support group are flying to Melbourne to support her on the first day of the trial. Today four more women have also joined the class action.
"We all went through the same thing, most of us have exactly the same symptoms … and we're there for the girls that have to stand up in court against Bayer," Logeman-Jansen said.
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