Four Million Women Worldwide Used The Dalkon Shield Intrauterine device between 1970 and 1974. The shield was promoted as the 'Cadillac of contraception.' However, physicians and women were not warned of its dangers. Users suffered from pelvic inflammatory disease, bleeding, septic abortions, and infertility. Three hundred thousand women filed a class action suit against the manufacturer, A.H. Robins, for causing bodily harm. Two hundred thousand women received monetary compensation from the Dalkon Shield Trust.Books in the past have described the history of the Dalkon Shield and the legal proceedings against it. This book focuses on the human cost of the shield in the aftermath of the class action suit. Mary Hawkins reveals that many women were not adequately represented during the suit. Medical records had been destroyed; women remained faceless to the medical committee responsible for compensation; some lawyers seized on the Dalkon Shield claims as a get-rich-quick scheme. Many women lost faith in the Canadian and American medical and legal systems. More important, Hawkins addresses the emotional injuries sustained by women and their partners who could no longer have children. Mary Hawkins intertwines stories from survivors with in-depth analysis of the medical, legal, and media systems at the root of the fiasco.Unshielded: The Human Cost of the Dalkon Shield IUD provides a comprehensive overview of the manufacturing and marketing of the shield, and its trail of destruction. It brings to life a story that has been obscured by legal and medical jargon and is an important lesson about the impact of misinformation on the public. A stern warning to physicians, pharmaceuticalcompanies, lawyers, and journalists, this book assesses -- at last -- the real costs to every woman who lives in the shadow of the shield.
- ISBN10 0802008763
- ISBN13 9780802008763
- Publish Date October 1997
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 25 February 2016
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint University of Toronto Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 224
- Language English