Yasmin and Yaz Lawsuits Pouring In

Chicago, ILThe Yaz and Yasmin complaints are still pouring in and more Yasmin/Yaz lawsuits are joining the current multidistrict litigation (MDL) underway against Bayer, the manufacturer of the Yasmin birth control pill.

Last month five more women who were prescribed either Yaz or Yasmin joined the MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illiniois. One of the plaintiffs had only used Yasmin for about 28 days—she was diagnosed with having a pulmonary embolism. Two other women were diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in June, 2010. Another woman also suffered a pulmonary embolism and also had her gallbladder removed.

The five women claim that Bayer failed to adequately warn of the risks of its birth control pills. Due to suffering these severe side effects, their Yasmin and Yaz lawsuits also claim negligence, failure to adequately test, breach of warranties, negligent misrepresentation, and defective design and manufacturing. They are seeking in excess of $75,000 in damages.

Two years ago, Kim was rushed to hospital complaining of trouble breathing and chest pains. Fortunately, the doctors were aware of Yasmin side effects and within hours she was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. (Many rural hospitals are still misdiagnosing or even unaware of drospirenone birth control risks, despite the fact that 50 deaths in 50 months have been linked to Yasmin and Yaz. Many women have told this reporter that they were sent home from ER, only to find out days later that they did indeed have blood clots in their lungs, or DVT in their legs and more.)

Daniella considers herself lucky to be alive. ”I had really bad chest pains, and could barely breath at all so my boyfriend drove me to ER,” she says. “I couldn’t believe what they found—I had a huge blood clot in my left lung and several smaller blood clots in my right lung. At the time nobody linked the blood clots to Yasmin but what else could it be?"

The complaints are all too familiar. In 2005, Minerva suffered a DVT for weeks in her right upper thigh, which was then followed by a pulmonary embolism. She was hospitalized for a week and couldn’t return to work for months.

Last but far from least, Keyra says she suffered a blood clot during her second pregnancy. She had taken Yaz for about a year before becoming pregnant. “I’m pretty sure that Yaz caused me to miscarry twice because the blood clot was in my amniotic sac with the baby,” she says. “I am so lucky it was found by the specialist, who I started seeing along with my regular OB/GYN. He determined that the blood clot was pre-existing—it had been there before I was pregnant—so I was put on bed rest for 22 weeks straight to keep the blood clot from bursting and hurting my unborn child.”

Yaz sales in 2007 were about $262 million. Allegedly due to Bayer’s heavy promotion and aggressive marketing, by 2008 sales rose to $616 million in the US alone.