Sybil Sheinwald, 96, Pioneering Lawyer Advocating for Women’s Health, Passes Away

Sybil Shainwald, a pioneering advocate for women whose health was irrevocably affected by pharmaceuticals and medical devices for nearly fifty years, passed away at her Manhattan residence on April 9th. She was 96 years old.

Her daughter, Laurie Scheinwald Krieger, announced her passing, although it hasn’t received widespread coverage.

At 48, Scheinwald graduated from law school and joined the New York City law firm Schlesinger & Finz, where she represented Joyce Bichler, a survivor of rare clear-cell adenocarcinoma, linked to medications her mother took during pregnancy. The synthetic hormone DES, marketed under various brand names, was intended to prevent miscarriage.

At the age of 18, Bichler underwent a radical hysterectomy, which removed two-thirds of her ovaries, fallopian tubes, and vagina. She was among thousands known as “DES daughters,” suffering due to their mothers’ medication use, and sued Eli Lilly, a major drug manufacturer, for damages.

In 1947, when the Food and Drug Administration approved DES for use in pregnant women, studies had already shown its cancer-causing effects in mice and rats. It was known to potentially harm the fetus beyond the placenta, yet companies marketed it as a safe treatment for various pregnancy issues, continuing even after evidence of its ineffectiveness surfaced.

By the late 1960s, clear cell adenocarcinoma was increasingly diagnosed in young women whose mothers had taken DES. In 1971, the FDA advised doctors against prescribing it. By then, the National Cancer Institute estimated that 5-10 million women and their children had been exposed to DES.

Bichler’s case arrived in court in 1979, part of numerous lawsuits. However, it faced challenges in proving which manufacturer was liable for the drug. Approximately 300 companies produced DES.

Bichler’s legal team proposed a groundbreaking argument that all manufacturers shared liability. After five days of deliberation, the jury agreed, and Bichler was awarded $500,000 in damages.

Scheinwald’s contribution was pivotal. Bichler stated in an interview, “I was a shy young woman discussing my reproductive health publicly. It was daunting. Sybil was the only woman who understood.”

On the fourth day of jury deliberation, Eli Lilly proposed a $100,000 settlement. Most of her legal team suggested Bichler consider accepting it.

“Sybil pulled my husband and me aside and asked, ‘What do you and Mike wish to do? Don’t be afraid,'” recalled Bichler. “Sybil empowered us to reject that offer.”

She added, “I did what needed to be done, but it was Sybil’s support that made it achievable.”

By the early 1980s, Scheinwald established her own office and became the leading legal representative for DES daughters. Over the next four decades, she represented hundreds of women.

In 1996, she won a class action lawsuit that secured a fund for the affected daughters, funded by pharmaceutical companies to cover medical expenses, counseling, and educational outreach.

Additionally, she fought against other harmful products affecting women.

She represented a woman whose silicone breast implants led to autoimmune issues, women harmed by the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device, and those affected by Norplant. She once urged the FDA not to approve Norplant due to potential unknown side effects.

She also assisted women internationally in securing compensation for false breast implants and Dalkon Shield. She was particularly concerned that African women were often uninformed about the risks associated with Dalkon Shield, which continued to be prescribed even after being withdrawn from the U.S. market.

Additionally, she addressed another long-acting contraceptive that, like DES, was tied to cancer in animal studies, which had been prescribed for decades starting in the late 1960s. This contraceptive was given to women across around 80 countries, disproportionately affecting marginalized populations, including poor and disabled women. She viewed it as a form of dangerous population control. However, it wasn’t approved by the FDA as a birth control option until 1992.

“Birth control pills have always been about drugs and devices for women,” Scheinwald stated in an oral history session conducted by the Veteran Feminists of America in 2019. “We stake our lives on these medical interventions.”

“We’ve tirelessly fought for representation,” noted Cindy Pearson, former executive director of the National Women’s Health Network. “Sybil was fearless in addressing any issue, regardless of the power of the opposition.”

Sybil Brodkin was born on April 27, 1928, in New York City. She was the sole daughter of Anne (Zimmerman) Brodkin and Morris Brodkin, who owned a restaurant. She graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn at the age of 16 and went on to William & Mary University in Williamsburg, Virginia, earning a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1948.

She married Sidney Scheinwald, an accountant and consumer advocate. He served as the Associate Director of Consumer Union in 1960, now known as Consumer Reports.

Sybil earned her Master’s in History from Columbia University in 1972 and received funding to create the oral history of the consumer movement at the Consumer Movement Research Center, which she directed until 1978.

At 44, she began attending New York Law School as a night student, ultimately completing her law degree in 1976. She aspired to study law while pursuing her history degree at Columbia, but the joint program did not come to fruition; as she recounted in her 2019 oral history, “You’d be replacing a man who had practiced for forty years.”

Scheinwald was still actively addressing issues up until her death.

She is survived by her daughter Krieger, another daughter, Louise Nasr, a son, Robert, brother Barry Schwartz, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Her husband Scheinwald passed away in 2003, and her daughter Marsha Scheinwald died in 2013.

“My practice involves suing corporations on behalf of women, ensuring that my work continues for many years to come,” Scheinwald remarked in a 2016 speech. “And regrettably, I won’t run short of clients.”