Here’s an article that just came through my inbox, about a class action lawsuit against the makers of birth control pills.  I have been amazed for some time that young women take birth control pills for acne, and have always wondered if they even tried to eliminate the acne through better diet and exercise.  Hopefully cases like this will get young women to re-think their choices – and their lifestyle – at an early age.

Calgarians join class action $15M lawsuit
against birth control makers

Eight months after Chloe Papparis began taking a birth control pill for acne, she almost died from severe side-effects, she says.

The teen started suffering from a bad migraine headache and frequent bouts of vomiting last August. Her family doctor thought it might be swine flu.

Six days later, however, Papparis was rushed to Foothills Hospital. Doctors told her she was 24 hours from dying.

“When I was in ER, the doctor by fluke said to give me a CT scan. They found five blood clots on my brain,” Papparis, now 18, said Thursday.

“I was told I had had a stroke and I wasn’t supposed to be living. If we had waited . . . I would have died.”

Papparis is among 800 Canadians taking part in class-action lawsuits against the manufacturer of two birth control drugs, Yaz and Yasmin, which they allege have caused severe reactions, including seven deaths.

All of the claims have been filed by Tony Merchant of the Merchant Law Group.

Fifty-four of the 90 Alberta plaintiffs in the $15-million lawsuit are from this city. That suit was filed at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary.

None of their allegations have been proven in court, and the defendants, all subsidiaries of manufacturer Bayer Inc., have yet to file statements of defence.

Merchant said Thursday his firm has filed or is about to file similar multimillion-dollar claims in all provinces except Prince Edward Island.

“The seven deaths are all similar in that they were all young women who were healthy,” Merchant said.

“One woman who died was 28, the rest were 14 to 19 years.”

“Of the 400 who do have problems, many have lost their gall bladder. All of them have continual blood pressure problems or blood clots related to blood pressure effects,” said Merchant.

In the claim, it is alleged the Bayer companies “participated in the common purpose of concealing the adverse effects of Yasmin and Yaz from regulatory authorities, the medical community, the public and class (action) members.”

It also alleges the FDA in the U.S. received more than 50 reports of deaths among users of the two drugs between 2004 and 2008.

“These reports include deaths associated with cardiac arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, intracardiac thrombus, pulmonary embolism, and stroke in women in their child-bearing years,” says the statement of claim.

It alleges the defendants knew or should have known that use of Yaz and Yasmin created an increased risk to consumers of personal serious injury, including but not limited to gallbladder disease, blood clots and strokes.

Papparis, meanwhile, spent six days in hospital and was placed on the anti-coagulant Heparin for six months to prevent clotting.

She is now off the drug but can never take birth control pills again. Doctors will have to be careful with her if she ever goes through surgery, for fear of more blood clotting.

Despina Papparis says her daughter was the first person to be admitted to the stroke clinic at Foothills Hospital because of reactions to Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella — all birth control pills with synthetic estrogen — but there have been several more since then.

“It was scary, it was horrifying, we’ve had nightmares,” she said.

“She started in December (2008), because she was graduating in May. She was taking it to clear up her acne for grad and her grad photos. The doctor handed it over and we didn’t think anything of it.

“We were lucky the doctor ordered the CT scan. He said had I not brought her in, she wouldn’t have survived Saturday. It was sheer luck. Why would I expect blood clots?”

Chloe said she doesn’t want anyone else to suffer.

“What happened to me is the worst thing of my life,” she said. “I don’t want other girls to go through it, too.”

By Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald
April 9, 2010