Jury Awards $14M Yaz Settlement to Birth Control Stroke Victim

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An Illinois jury has awarded $14 million in damages to a Chicago woman who claims she suffered a debilitating stroke from the birth control drug Yasmin.

Plaintiff Mariola Zapalski alleged in the medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Zbigniew Aniol in Chicago that her doctor should not have prescribed the medication given her underlying risk factors for blood clots. Studies show that Yasmin side effects increase the risk of developing deep venous blood clots by 2 to 3 times over other types of birth control pills.

Zapalski was prescribed Yasmin in 2007, and suffered a stroke just 13 days after starting to use the pills. According to allegations, Dr. Aniol “knew or should have known that Zapalski had an increased risk of suffering a stroke on Yasmin due to preexisting risk factors for birth control pill blood clots.” But he prescribed Yaz anyway, which Zapalski accredits to the stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side and with a variety of speech problems and other permanent injuries.

Following trial before a Cook County jury, Zapalski was awarded $14 million against Aniol. Previously, a $2.5 million Yaz settlement had been reached with Resurrection Medical Center.

Issues with Yasmin

Yasmin was first approved to sell in the United States in 2006 by the FDA, to be used as an oral contraceptive, and to treat mild acne. Along with Yaz and Ocella, it is the only birth control pill to use a newly-formed hormone called drospirenone.

Before Yasmin, drospirenone had never been used by American pharmaceutical companies. Yasmin is currently only being used in brand-name oral contraceptives manufactured by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and thanks to Bayer’s aggressive marketing methods, Yaz is one of the most popularly prescribed oral contraceptives in the country. However, the side effects of drospirenone have brought it a different kind of attention.

Problems arising from Yasmin side effects can include blood clots, as Zapalski found out. “A dangerous effect of drospirenone is that it acts as a diuretic, which can cause an increase in potassium levels in the blood.” Blood clots can travel and can lead to heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, and stroke.

The verdict in Zapalski’s case comes as Bayer faces thousands of Yasmin lawsuits and a Yaz class action lawsuit investigation, alleging that the drug maker provided insufficient warnings about the increased risk of blood clots associated with drospirenone-based birth control pills. So many women have reported clotting and related conditions from Yaz/Yasmin that a Yaz class action lawsuit has formed.

In the federal court system, the Yaz/Yasmin lawsuits have been consolidated as part of multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Southern District of Illinois, although the litigation has been essentially stayed since January 2012, when the first trial dates in the federal MDL were cancelled amid the start of Yaz settlement negotiations.

Join a Free Yaz Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you or someone you know suffered a birth control blood clot injury such as a stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis, or pulmonary embolism, you have legal options. See if you qualify for compensation by submitting your information for a free and confidential case evaluation:

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