Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Vicki Parsons had been on the popular Yaz birth control pill for just three weeks when her life nearly came to an end. It started with a pain in her foot that just days later had her in the hospital. She was diagnosed with blood clots – one in her leg and the other in her lungs. It was an odd diagnosis for a young woman with no history of the health problem and no habits, like smoking, that made her more susceptible to blood clots. After a battery of tests, the doctors determined it was her birth control pills that triggered the clots.

What Vicki didn’t know was that the Food and Drug Administration had linked more than 50 deaths to the use of Yaz, and that blood clots, stroke and other serious complications had been associated with the contraceptive.

Yaz, also known as Yasmin and the generic Ocella, are the only birth control pill that contains drospirenone, a diuretic. While it helps to flush out excess fluid in the body, it can cause a build up of potassium in the blood, which can cause heart rhythm disturbances that can lead to blood clots that can cause sudden cardiac death, pulmonary embolism or strokes.

Vicki is now one of numerous women who are suing Bayer Pharmaceuticals claiming they were not sufficiently warned by the drug company of the dangers of taking Yaz. Yaz denies the claim. “The company is in the process of gathering information on these cases, but the complaints we have review so far pertain to side effects that are warned about in the labeling of all oral contraceptives,” according to a statement Bayer gave to WERG-TV.

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