"If 20,000 men's penises were falling off, the world would stop"

It's been hailed as a no-fuss, straight-forward and safe contraceptive solution. Women who no longer wanted to fall pregnant could have this simple device implanted without surgery in a 15-minute procedure and it would effectively sterilize them, permanently.

No more pills, no more troublesome IUDs. It was hoped this approach, developed in part by an Adelaide specialist, would revolutionize female reproductive health around the world. So far 750, 000 women have been sold on its safety and reliability and had it implanted.

But thousands of those women are now reporting major complications, excruciating pain, haemorrhaging and punctured organs. Some have seen the implant migrate to other parts of their body or shatter into small pieces.

Many have fallen pregnant. Some women have died. In this global investigation, Sunday Night exposes the dangerous, even fatal flaws in this popular contraceptive and explores nightmare cases where women have been forced to undergo multiple, highly invasive operations to deal with its complications.

We examine the experience of one Australian patient who fell pregnant three times despite the manufacturer's claims of near certain prevention. Sunday Night's Dr Andrew Rochford discovers many of these women are fighting back, determined to hold the manufacturer to account and to get the device withdrawn from the market.

And they've got a powerful ally on their side. Legendary consumer advocate and determined campaigner Erin Brockovich is on the case with a withering assessment of the company behind the device, the regulatory flaws that allowed it to be declared safe without proper independent study and that now prevent many women from suing the manufacturer for damages.

This episode of Sunday Night hosted by Melissa Doyle airs on Sunday, November 1, at 7pm on Seven.