Yaz Gallbladder Removal Lawsuit Filed Against Bayer

A Michigan woman has filed a lawsuit over Yaz, alleging that Bayer’s popular birth control pill caused her to have her gallbladder removed and suffer blood clots that now require her to take medication to avoid clot formation in the future.

The Yaz gallbladder removal lawsuit was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by Asia Moore. It will join hundreds of other cases pending against Bayer Pharmaceuticals that involve allegations that the drug maker failed to adequately research the potential side effects of Yaz or warn about the increased risk of gallbladder disease, stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or sudden death.

Moore’s Yaz case is believed to be the first lawsuit from Michigan, which has a state law protecting drug makers from product liability for medications that have been approved by FDA. According to a statement from the lawyers who filed the case, they believe that Bayer’s conduct with Yaz has been so egregious that it may override the state provision.

According to the complaint, Moore began using Yaz birth control in March 2007. As a result of alleged Yaz side effects, Moore suffered loss of her gallbladder and the formation of blood clots, which have left her facing a lifetime of increased risk that she may suffer a blood clot in the future. In addition, Moore says that she must now take prescription medications to reduce the risk of blood clots from Yaz.

Gallbladder problems from Yaz have been reported among many former users of the birth control. The gallbladder assists the body in the digestive process and stores bile produced by the liver.

Yaz is a newer type of birth control pill, which contains a “fourth” generation progestin known as drospirenone. The progestin is unique to Yaz and Yasmin, which are both manufactured by Bayer. Plaintiffs like Moore allege that there is insufficient data is available to support the safe use of drospirenone, particularly compared with second generation progrestin.

Drospirenone impacts the body’s normal mechanism of regulating a balance between salt and water, which could result in elevated potassium levels. According to Moore’s complaint, this could lead to a condition known as hyperkalemia if potassium levels become too high, which can cause heart rhythm disturbances. If hyperkalemia disrupts the normal rhythm, the flow of blood through the heart can be slowed to the point that it permits a blood clot to form.

Moore’s Yaz gallbladder lawsuit will consolidated in the federal MDL, or multidistrict litigation, which has been centralized in the Southern District of Illinois for all cases against Bayer over problems with Yaz and Yasmin, their other birth control pill which is nearly identical to Yaz.