Posted on 11/06/2006 6:31:22 PM PST by Lorianne
More than 40 women have filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court against the manufacturer of a popular birth control patch. They are alleging that the patch is causing life-threatening problems and complications and has even resulted in the death of a woman.
In the lawsuit filed against the manufacturer Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson and a San Francisco-based distributor McKesson Corp, the women have alleged that by using the Ortho Eva birth patch they have experienced various health problems including blood clots. A second complaint filed against Ortho-McNeil claims that a 25 year old healthy woman died of severe blood clots in her legs and lungs after she started using Ortho Evra.
Ortho Evra is a birth control patch approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2001 and is one of the fastest growing forms of contraception in the country. It prevents pregnancy by delivering the hormones progesterone and estrogen directly into the bloodstream through the skin.
After a study in September, the FDA had warned that the women using Ortho Evra birth-control patch can face twice the risk of blood clots in their lungs and legs than the women using the contraceptive pills.
The plaintiffs are accusing the company Ortho-McNeil of failing to suitably investigate the product's safety before launching it in the market and of deceiving the users about the severity and acuteness of possible side effects, including blood clots and strokes.
Using contraception is not only immoral, it's asking for trouble healthwise.
"Using contraception is not only immoral (in my opinion), I believe it's asking for trouble healthwise."
There. Fixed it. :)
I agree with your points. The patients should have known they were assuming these risks, and they should not, in my opinion, have a cause of action for having made a bad decision about their health.
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