Yaz Lawsuit Alleges Pulmonary Emboli and DVT from Birth Control Pill

A new Yaz lawsuit was filed this week against Bayer Pharmaceuticals by a woman who alleges the popular birth control pill caused her to suffer pulmonary emboli and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), leaving her with permanent injuries.

Anna Butler of Kansas filed the product liability lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which is at least the 75th federal lawsuit over Yaz or Yasmin oral contraceptives.

Butler took Yaz from April 2006 through August 2007, when she had bilateral pulmonary emboli and deep vein thrombosis. She is suing Bayer and its subsidiary, Berlex Laboratories, for negligence in creating a defective product and fraud in trying to conceal knowledge of the potential Yaz side effects. The lawsuit seeks compensation for treatment of her injuries, pain, suffering and emotional distress.

A similar lawsuit was filed on September 18 by Candice Richardson in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that a blood clot from Yaz and Yasmin use caused her to lose her unborn daughter during the 27th week of pregnancy. According to the Southeast Texas Record, Richardson took the birth control pills before she became pregnant, which she alleges increased her risk of suffering blood clots during.

Nearly identical Yasmin lawsuits and Yaz lawsuits have been filed throughout the United States in both state and federal courts on behalf of hundreds of women who allege that they suffered injuries as a result of Bayer’s failure to warn about the potential health problems with Yaz and Yasmin. Potential cases have been filed over blood clots, heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary emboli, deep vein thromboses, gallbladder disease and sudden death on Yaz or Yasmin.

Yaz and Yasmin both contain a combination of ethinyl estradiol, which is used in many oral contraceptives, and drospirenone, a new type of progestin that is unique to these drugs and a generic Yasmin version sold under the brand name Ocella. Drospirenone, or drsp, impacts the body’s normal mechanism of regulating a balance between salt and water, which could result in elevated potassium levels. This can cause a condition known as hyperckalemia, which is linked to potentially life-threatening heart problems and other health issues.

Two recent studies, one by researchers in Denmark and one by researchers in The Netherlands, found that birth control pills like Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella, which contain drospirenone, are more likely to cause blood clots than oral contraceptives that contain other forms of progestin, including older progestins such as levonorgestrel.

Last week, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation heard testimony from plaintiffs and defendants on whether to consolidate and centralize all federal Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits under one judge as part of an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation, for pretrial litigation. A decision is expected in coming weeks.