The Illinois MDL has just added a new plaintiff — one who developed deep vein thrombosis after taking the controversial oral contraceptive Yaz. Kenna Smith filed her Yaz lawsuit on March 27, 2012. Her case will join many others that have been assigned to the MDL in the Southern District of Illinois.
Like the others, Smith is claiming that she was not made aware of the risks involved in taking Yaz when she started taking the pill. Smith is claiming that Yaz caused her to develop deep vein thrombosis and now she is suffering from chronic pain and anxiety over her medical condition. Smith started taking Yaz back in 2008, which is far later than the 2002 research that showed Yaz’s link to DVT. For this reason, Smith believes Bayer had plenty of time to inform her and healthcare professionals of the pill’s dangers. For this reason, Smith alleges that Bayer “has not only ignored the increased risk, but urged women to use Yaz as a safer alternative in birth control.”
Smith developed deep vein thrombosis within a month of starting the pill. Research has proven that Yaz can cause serious side effects, including heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease and blood clots that can cause pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis. Bayer continues to maintain that their drospirenone-based pills — Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella — are no more dangerous than older, non-drospirenone-based drugs. This refusal to accept liability has forced patients to file lawsuits by the thousands in an effort to receive compensation for their injuries.
Recently, Bayer offered to settle as many as 70 cases that were filed against them. For some people, this is practically an admission of the company’s liability. This move by Bayer may prove to be the company’s undoing in terms of fighting off the thousands of other lawsuits that have been filed against them.
