Nuvaring Pumonary Embolism Lawsuit Filed Over Woman’s Death

A Virginia man has filed a lawsuit against Organon and Merck over the death of his wife, alleging that side effects of Nuvaring, a contraceptive device, caused her to suffer a lethal pulmonary embolism. 

The Nuvaring wrongful death lawsuit was filed by Eric Horne on May 31 in the Circuit Court in Newport News, Virginia.

According to the complaint, Alberta Horne, Eric Horne’s wife, died due to blood clots in her pulmonary arteries in 2009. The lawsuit blames the Nuvaring birth control ring for causing the pulmonary embolism and death.

NuvaRing is a form of birth control that releases a combination of etonogestrel and ethinyl estradiol through a ring that is inserted into the vagina once a month.

Organon, a subsidiary of Merck, allegedly failed to conduct adequate studies that would have revealed the risk of blood clots from Nuvaring before it was introduced into the U.S. market, according to allegations raised by Horne. He claims that his wife’s physician would have never prescribed the Nuvaring had the true risks of blood clots and pulmonary embolism been properly communicated by the manufacturers.

The lawsuit seeks $10 million in compensation for negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty and loss of consortium for Alberta Horne’s husband and two surviving minor children.

A number of similar NuvaRing lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts throughout the United States. As of the end of last year, more than 730 people had filed a lawsuit over blood clot injury from NuvaRing, and the number of cases is expected to continue to increase as NuvaRing lawyers continue to review new cases for women who have experienced problems.

All NuvaRing suits filed in filed in federal district courts throughout the United States have been consolidated before Judge Rodney Sippel for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, where the first NuvaRing trials are expected to begin next year.