The most touching thing one can do is to put a human face on what Bayer and the FDA see as statistics only. Guess what, folks? Brianne has gone and done such an amazing job of it that I had to share. Thank you, Brianne! Here is “Dear Bayer – Do you care? A letter about Essure and doing the right thing.”
The following is a letter from E-Sister Brianne Savino, reprinted with her permission (including the use of her name). It is one of the most poignant things on the subject of the horrible “permanent” birth control product Essure that I’ve read. One of the things I try to do with my reporting on the issue is educate and inform, hopefully to help those who have Essure find the Facebook group and learn that they’re not alone and it’s not “all in their heads.” Another is to hopefully reach someone who’s thinking of getting Essure so they can see the very real dangers that Bayer and the FDA hide so well and change their mind. Another, perhaps the most touching (and yes, you wonderful E-Sisters have made me cry more than once!) is to put a human face on what Bayer and the FDA see as statistics only. Guess what, folks? Brianne has gone and done such an amazing job of it that I had to share. Thank you, Brianne! Here is “Dear Bayer – Do you care? A letter about Essure and doing the right thing.”
“Dear Bayer,
I find myself writing this with no expectation that this will be read by anyone at your company that holds any merit. However, I hold onto a small vestige of hope that this will not only be read but also understood. You are a very large and successful corporation. Your company has offered many products that have helped countless lives and there is something to be said for that.
Nonetheless, you have made a mistake. As children we are taught that mistakes are allowed as long as we learn from them and correct ourselves. You bought and distributed a product known as Essure. You successfully promoted it and it is now widely known and used. For some this product has been wonderful and others it has become a living nightmare from which we cannot wake. Many of us are suffering and what I want to know is ‘do you care?’ I understand that a large corporation must pay heavy attention to their bottom line but I urge you to look below that. We are not numbers and statistics. We are human beings.
With all the negative reports that you have flooding in I would like to ask each one of you that continue to market and promote this product, ‘Would you implant this is your mother, sister, wife, or even your daughter?’ That’s what we are, we are not complaints or negative press. We are mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. Every one of us owns one or more of those titles. How do we get through to you? If not by a moral compass than what?
Many of us, myself included, have no means to get help with this. I am a single mother to 5 children whom I support and take very good care of. I find myself in quite the predicament with healthcare. I make too much to get any help from a state agency and yet I make too little to get any help from the marketplace. You have spent millions in incentives to have doctors push your product and yet you are doing nothing to help the people that your product has hurt. Will you not do as we are taught as children?
Apologize and make things right. I suggest that you do some reading on the very large mistakes that GM has made, not only morally but financially as well. They were in a scenario much like yours. They had the information and the resources to correct the poor decisions that were made but they chose not to. Financially this has hurt them more in the long run than it would have if they had corrected it in the beginning and has sufficiently warped their reputation. Precious lives were lost because they were afraid of the financial aspect. Will that example open your eyes?
I beg you to see me, the real me. Not the case number or complaint number that I have been issued. Me, the person, the daughter, the mother that you have hurt. I may be just one measly person in the world to you but to my five children, I am the world. You are at a crossroads right now.
You can become the company that cares for profit margins only or you can become the company that cared enough to make things right. Very little comes before the almighty dollar these days, I am very well aware of that fact.
That being said, I know who I am and who my mother raised me to be. I would never put a price on a human beings life. To those that love us, we are priceless. I will ask one thing of the Bayer CEO, all the executives and employees that continue the fight to keep Essure as a safe, effective and permanent birth control before I close this letter.
When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, close your eyes, keep in mind all the hard evidence and facts of injury that have come before you with this product, now think of your mother wherever she may be.
Lastly, ask yourself one question…’Would she be proud of you and the decisions that you’ve made?’
Sincerely,
Not just a number”
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