A single mother in Bradford is suing her GP over the failure of her birth control.

Her case is one of three in Yorkshire to be taken on by a firm of solicitors following reports that 584 women have fallen pregnant despite using the Implanon contraceptive implant, a device which is supposed to work for three years by releasing hormones into the bloodstream from a tiny tube in the arm.

The 28-year-old, of Allerton, who does not want to be named, was first fitted with the contraceptive implant following the birth of her son, three years ago.

When the implant needed renewing in May last year, she visited her family doctor who took out the old device and fitted a new one.

The mother-of-one said: “She said it had gone in and she could feel it and I didn’t think any more about it.”

However, in August she began to suffer from sickness and a pregnancy test revealed she was pregnant. She made the difficult decision to have a termination.

“I was devastated,” she said. “My son has autism and it is hard to deal with him. I don’t want any more children because I can only just cope with him.

“It was awful because I did not think I would have to go through anything like that. I thought I would not get pregnant again.”

Following the termination she was sent for a scan to locate the implant, but it couldn’t be found. A blood test also failed to detect the presence of the implant’s hormones in her system.

“The implant had never been inserted,” she said.

Richard Greensit, assistant solicitor at Pryers Solicitors in York, who has taken on the case, said: “She has a son with autism and did not feel she could cope with a second child and took the very difficult decision to have a termination. This led to complications and she has clearly been through a huge ordeal with that.”