Parents Sue After 14-Year-Old Daughter Died with Birth Control Patch

Life Site News.net ^ | 11.21.05 | Hilary White

[Coleus]

When the parents of 14 year-old Alycia Brown of La Crosse Wisconsin found out their daughter was sexually active, they did what the modern culture told them was the right thing to do; they put her on birth control, choosing the popular hormonal patch instead of the Pill. When on May 7, 2004, Alycia died suddenly of blood clots in her lower pelvis Michael and Lorie Brown decided to sue the deadly drug's manufacturer in the hopes of having it taken off the market.
 
The patch, which releases a dose of contraceptive hormones into a woman's blood stream through the skin, has been responsible for at least 17 deaths in women age 17 to 30 since its release in 2002, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
 
In September 2004, a study by the FDA revealed 21 "life-threatening" conditions related to the patch such as blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks. The Browns' lawsuit claims the company intentionally withheld information from its own clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration records suggesting the increased risks.
 
Thus far, Alycia is the youngest of the patch's victims. Her mother told the La Crosse Tribune that the suit is only partly about collecting damages. "More than anything, I want it taken off the market," she said.
 
"Maybe I'll be able to save a life, if people know what happened to her."
 
Earlier this month, Ortho-McNeil agreed to improve the warnings on the labels for the patch to include the information that it had possible fatal side effects. The company admitted that the patch exposes women to about 60 percent more estrogen than those using typical birth-control pills.
 
Read Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Ortho McNeil Corp Admits Birth Control Patch Blood Clot Connection
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111404.html
 
Contact the FDA to request that the drug be taken off the market:
U. S. Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville MD 20857-0001
1-888-INFO-FDA
(1-888-463-6332)

and your elected officials www.congress.org

[SeaDragon]

Surely you jest. What GOOD point comes from "planned parenthood", and the likes of Margaret Sanger????????

If you need to ask then you obviously miss the point entirely.

[kublia khan]

Almost every drug both over the counter and prescription have potentially deadly side effects. You cannot eliminate every risk in life, the rationale course of action is to establish an acceptable level of undesirable outcomes and live with that.

[SeaDragon]

The doctor that suggested/prescribed this as the method of choice doesn't appear to have followed the criteria from the commercial.

The problem here appears to be the doctor. These people don't seem to understand that they don't have to do what the doctor wants. They have a choice.

[Campion]

The problem here appears to be the doctor. These people don't seem to understand that they don't have to do what the doctor wants.

??? Huh? The doctor forced them to put their 14-year-old kid on birth control?

[SeaDragon]

Asprin, nuts, seafood and some fruits have all been shown to have fatal side effects for a significantly small number of the population. Should they also be outlawed?

Oh absolutely............ along with the bathroom (dangerous room in the house) don't you know.........

:-)

[RunningWolf]

If the problem is some people do not understand the choices that they face I agree with you.

Wolf

[SeaDragon]

Frankly, you guys were giving the parents the wrong advice.

I am not giving advice to anyone, just voicing an opinion.

[RunningWolf]

We all approach these charged issues from different places of life experience. What I say does not invalidate your's

Wolf

[Adiemus]

"I can't use statins for example ~ and every time you hear an advertisement about them they give you a warning about a "rare" genetic difference, etc., all of which is true."

Are you speaking of CPK levels through the roof (for me they went over 4000), incredibly sore muscles, and feelings of weakness? If so, you are the first person I've come across with the same reaction to statins as I have. And yes, it can quickly become fatal. I was lucky that my doctor ran the blood test a few days after starting them.

Wonder if we're related? :)

[SeaDragon]

I don't have a clue nor do I know how many people aspirin has saved.

[SeaDragon]

I beg to differ dear Lady, but it is as simple as that.

Nothing is ever that simple.

Think of this possible scenario.... young girl, starved for affection, boyfriend pushing and whining "if you loved me you would do it". Please................ Life is never simple.

[mcg1969]

I don't feel a need to defend them. I have always felt that they were a place the girls could go for information when their parents were too uptight to talk to them.

That would be fine if their advice weren't so abonimable.

[SeaDragon]

Properly supervised 14-year-old girls do not just "walk out the door," tart themselves up, and go into an environment where they're hooking up with 19-year-old men.

What part of High School did you miss?

[Dustbunny]

This is not good. Scary because I attempted to get one of our grand daughter's to use the 'patch'. Glad she didn't.

[Fire_on_High]

Birth control serves another purpose...one that can be even more useful in girls and young women. It regulates the menstrual cycle. For someone who literally never knew when it would hit, anywhere from a little under 2 weeks to over 6, being put on the Pill at 14 was a Godsend for me. In the 10 years that I've been on it I've never had more than 24 hours variation...no embarrassing surprises, no days of misery.

If any daughters I ever have start having the same issues I did, I wouldn't hesitate to see about having them put on it. I also wouldn't hesitate to slap them so hard their heads rang if I caught them slutting around like an animal in heat :-)

[SeaDragon]

I reject this kind of logic. For one thing this is not a medication, it was a birth control. So that invalidates the rest of your logical basis.

On the contrary, any script you take is a medication. You take it for whatever the problem is that you need it for, be it severe acne or birth control. If you have been warned of the risks and you accept those risks then the fault is yours not theirs.

[Coleus]

Almost every drug both over the counter and prescription have potentially deadly side effects. >>

a 14 yr. old shouldn't have been on THIS drug. Much too young.

[Coleus]

This is not good. Scary because I attempted to get one of our grand daughter's to use the 'patch'. Glad she didn't. >>

I hope she's over 18. Anyway, if she is engaged in unprotected sex, she risks contracting an incurable viral std like: AIDS, HPV (which causes cervical cancer, Herpes, Warts, etc.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

What kind of parents would put their 14 year old daughter on birth control?

The kind that doesn't want the stigma or expense but doesn't care about hypocrisy.

[RunningWolf]

I disagree with you there.. because now it is more into a cultural and legal area, other lessor forms of birth control are not regulated that way.

But beyond that, is the issue that some of these people might not understand they have choice to accept or not the doc's recommendations.

Wolf