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

It didn’t make sense to Joan Cummins of Hackettstown, N.J., that her daughter Michelle Pfleger would drop dead. The college freshman died suddenly last fall, which was later determined by medical examiners to have been caused by a pulmonary thromboemboli, or blood clots in her lungs.

Cummins believes it was her daughter’s birth control pills, which she also took for the treatment of acne, that caused her death. She has filed suit against the Bayer Corp., makers of the birth control Yaz, and several of its divisions. The lawsuit was filed as part of a national class-action lawsuit against the makers of Yaz.

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More teenagers are using birth control pills than ever before, and by far the most popular brand they are choosing is Yaz, according to a new study by Thomson Reuters. But some worry that using Bayer Healthcare’s blockbuster oral contraceptive may be putting those young girls at greater risk for serious health problems.

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Tennis star Serena Williams has been sidelined because of pulmonary embolisms, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs. Often, pulmonary embolisms are caused by blood clots that originate in the legs and then travel up to the lungs. This type of blood clots are known as deep vein thrombosis, or DVTs.

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A new research study suggests that women who take the so-called “mini” birth control pill may be more than three times more likely to become diabetic after pregnancy. The risk is even greater if a woman uses the mini-pill after having gestational diabetes. Mini pills contain just one hormone, progestin, compared to a combination of two hormones, progesterone and estrogen, in traditional birth control pills. The latter variety is far more popular in the United States.

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A rare and often under-reported form of stroke involving the veins and not the arteries is more common than previously thought and affects children, young adults and women during pregnancy and the postpartum period, according to a study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. This rare type of stroke is known as cerebral venous thrombosis, or CVT, and is caused by a blood clot in the dural venous sinuses, or the veins that drain blood from the brain toward the heart.

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Six months ago, Lucy* was released from the hospital. Just months after starting Yaz birth control pills, the young woman was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (PE), gallstones, and an unknown growth on her adrenal gland. “The doctors told me Yaz was the reason for the PE and that I was very lucky,” she wrote to a community board on Yaz on Medications.com. “I work in a hospital and had no knowledge of these problems until I entered the ER by ambulance on Saturday.”

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Two more women have filed lawsuits against the makers of Yaz birth control, alleging they were seriously injured after taking the oral contraceptives. They claim had they known the dangers associated with Yaz, they would have never risked their life by taking that type of birth control pill. Amie Nardone and Lauren Powell, both of New Jersey, say Yaz caused them to suffer gallstones and a blood clot, respectively.

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Carole Ann Grohan says she never knew taking Yaz birth control pills could put her life at risk. Instead, the New Jersey woman bought into the flashy commercials about how the oral contraceptive helped clear complexions and protected women from the nasty side effects of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Carole Ann wasn’t the only woman swayed by the playful advertisements – Yaz soon became the best selling birth control pill in the nation. However, Carole Ann found out the hard way that women like her were being fooled by Bayer Healthcare, the makers of Yaz. She suffered a blood clot in her lungs, known as a pulmonary embolism.

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Ethinyl estradiol and drospirenone are the two hormones used in some of the most popular birth control pills used today, but some critics say the hormones make for a deadly combination. While effective at preventing pregnancy, the hormones can trigger blood clots and cause gallbladder damage.

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About nine women out of 10,000 who take birth control pills experience a blood clot, compared to about half that number among women who do not take oral contraceptives. Blood clots are a serious medical issue and can lead to stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism and even death. While this risk is considered similar among all low-dose birth control pills, thousands of women have filed lawsuits against the makers of Yaz claiming they were not adequately warned that using Yaz could cause them serious injury and even death. They also allege that Yaz puts women at even greater risk of blood clots than other pills, and even puts them at jeopardy of gallbladder damage.

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