Kelli Baugh’s menstrual cramps were becoming severe. Sex was extraordinarily painful, and no amount of feminine products could stanch her excessive bleeding. So in 2006, she went to her doctor, who suspected her symptoms might be related to an intrauterine contraceptive device she had had implanted the year before. It was called a Mirena.
But the diagnosis was inconclusive, and Baugh lacked insurance to pay for exploratory surgery. It took two years before she underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the device, which by then had burst through her uterus. But her problems weren’t over. After giving birth to her third child, Baugh, now 27, was forced to undergo a hysterectomy, allegedly forced by adhesions and endometriosis the device caused.
