Yaz tablets, the Ortho Evra patch, and the Nuvaring insert are three types of birth control that are very different from each other in their delivery systems, but all are dangerous drugs.
Our firm is currently representing women who have suffered a wide range of personal injuries that include pulmonary embolisms, blood clots, heart attacks, strokes, and death as a result of their use of these dangerous drugs.
Yaz, and the associated product Yasmin, are oral contraceptive pills. Yaz and Yasmin both contain ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone. The difference between the two products is simply that Yasmin has a higher dose of ethinyl estradiol, which has serious side effects. Drospirenone also has a proven history of causing serious personal injuries.
Bayer Pharmaceuticals has aggressively marketed Yaz, largely through television commercials on shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, which have a high percentage of female viewers.
The FDA determined that these commercials greatly overstated the product’s benefits, and the California Attorney General has been a leader in crafting an agreement among 27 states that requires Bayer to run $20 million worth of ads to clarify Yaz’s approved uses, its benefits, and its risks.
In his book, Worst Pills, Best Pills: A Consumer’s Guide To Avoiding Drug-induced Death, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, founder and director of Public Citizen‘s Health Research Group, gave Yasmin a Do Not Use rating. He said that Yasmin may cause serious heart problems and other personal injuries, and he found no evidence that Yasmin is in any way superior to older birth control products.
The Ortho Evra transdermal patch, marketed by Ortho—McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, delivers the contraceptive drugs norelgestromin and ethinyl estradiol through the skin. In 2004, an ABC News report found 17 deaths, including 18 year old Zakiya Kennedy, and 62 life-threatening complications linked to Ortho-Evra, but it’s still on the market.
In 2005, Public Citizen stressed the dangerous personal injuries caused by the patch and issued a Do Not Use warning. In 2008, Public Citizen sent the FDA a petition calling for a complete ban on Ortho-Evra, but the FDA has allowed Ortho-McNeil to continue to sell the product.
In an attempt to avoid responsibility and accountability for the personal injuries and wrongful deaths that Ortho Evra has caused, Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Ortho-McNeil, has been doing its best to hide behind preemption – a legal doctrine that absolves manufacturers of medical devices of liability if the devices have received FDA approval. In the case of Ortho Evra, Johnson & Johnson is trying to hide behind preemption even though the company deliberately hid evidence that the patches contained dangerously high levels of estrogen.
The Nuvaring, marketed by Organon, is another contraceptive device that has caused numerous personal injuries and deaths. Inside the vagina, the Nuvaring releases estrogen and progestin over a 3-week period.
One innocent victim of the Nuvaring was a young mother named Jackie Bozicev, who collapsed and died in front of her husband and small children. Many other women who have suffered because of this device have shared their painful stories to warn others of this dangerous drug.
The Nuvaring has been so destructive that it has inspired women to take action to inform other women and to warn them about the personal injuries and wrongful deaths that Nuvaring has caused.
Since research on the birth control pill began in the 1950s, the dangers have been well known. A recent study concluded that the safest birth control pills were the ones developed in the 1970s, which contained low levels of estrogen combined with a second hormone, levonorgestrel. The study also stated that newer “gimmick” versions of the pill, such as Yaz and Ortho Evra, are doing terrible things to women’s bodies.
Anyone suffering a personal injury or the death of a family member because of Yasmin, Yaz, Ortho Evra, or Nuvaring can talk to an experienced lawyer by contacting us at 888.777.1776. There is never a charge. All work is performed on a contingency basis. If we don’t collect, you owe nothing.
Onward,
Richard Alexander
