Ind. Woman Files Yaz Blood Clot Lawsuit

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An Indiana woman has filed a Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit against Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. for injuries allegedly caused by using the contraceptive medications.

According to the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit, plaintiff Megan Murphy was prescribed and took Yaz, which allegedly caused her to suffer a life-threatening deep vein thrombosis in 2010. She says she now suffers from “ongoing physical pain, significant changes in lifestyle, medical, health, incidental and related expenses, medical monitoring and medications, and the fear of developing additional health consequences.”

Yaz and Yasmin are birth control pills manufactured and marketed by Bayer. They are combination oral contraceptives, or “COCs,” meaning that they contain an estrogen component and a progestin component. These steroidal components work together to suppress ovulation, fertilization, and implantation, and thus prevent pregnancy. Yaz and Yasmin were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for marketing in 2006 and 2001, respectively.

“As a result of defendants’ claims regarding the … safety and effectiveness of Yaz/Yasmin/Gianvi, plaintiff’s medical provider prescribed and plaintiff began using Yaz/Yasmin/Gianvi in or about 2010,” the Yasmin lawsuit states.

Murphy contends that Bayer allegedly knew or should have known that using Yaz or Yasmin creates a higher risk of blood clots than other oral contraceptives in the market, “including but not limited to second generation oral contraceptives, and that, when taken as directed, such use was unreasonably dangerous to consumers.” That information could not have been known by the plaintiff when she was taking the birth control pills, the Yaz lawsuit says.

Two studies released in August 2009 found significant increased risks associated with Yaz, Yasmin and Gianvi compared to other types of birth control pills. The first study assessed the risk of developing venous thrombosis in women who use oral contraception. The women ranged in age from 15 to 49 and had no history of heart disease or any malignant condition.

The second study found that Yaz and Yasmin users have twice the risk of a clotting event than users of birth control pills that contain levonorgestrel.

In less than a five-year period, from the first quarter of 2004 through the third quarter of 2008, more than 50 reports of death among users of Yaz, Yasmin, and Gianvi have been filed with the FDA.

Previous studies have shown the same risks.

In February 2003, a paper entitled Thromboembolism Associated With the New Contraceptive Yasmin was published in the British Medical Journal detailing a Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre study of five additional reports of thromboembolism in which Yasmin was suspected as the cause, including two deaths.

In April 2002, the British Medical Journal reported that the Dutch College of General Practitioners recommended that older, second generation birth control pills be prescribed in lieu of Yasmin as a result of 40 cases of venous thrombosis among women taking Yasmin.

Despite the wealth of scientific evidence, defendants have allegedly not only ignored the increased risk of the development of the mentioned injuries associated with the use of Yaz and Yasmin but they have, through their marketing and advertising campaigns, urged women to use Yaz or Yasmin instead of birth control pills that present a safer alternative.

In 2008, the FDA issued a warning letter to Bayer over Yaz and Yasmin advertising that was seen as “misleading because it promoted Yaz/Yasmin for medical conditions beyond the limits of the FDA approval,” the birth control lawsuit states.

This Yaz lawsuit is Megan Murphy v. Bayer Heathcare Phamaceuticals Inc., Case No. 3:14-cv-10207-DRH-PMF, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

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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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