In yet another Yaz lawsuit — this one filed on September 19, 2012 — Connie Serrano from Florida is suing Bayer amid claims that the company failed to warn her of the dangers linked to Yaz use. Her use of the pills caused her to develop deep vein thrombosis, which is a condition that is caused by blood clots.
Serrano’s lawsuit was originally filed in state court in Lee County, but was transferred to federal court on November 30, 2012. The case is being identified as a tag along case to the Illinois MDL. In Serrano’s complaint, she says that she started taking Yaz sporadically from July 2002 through September 2010. That use caused her to suffer from blood clot-related issues including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. She also says that she suffered from bladder problems, permanent lung damage and vein damage.
Deep vein thrombosis is a condition that is caused by blood clots that travel to the patient’s leg. Pulmonary embolisms are caused by blood clots that travel to the patient’s lung. Both of the conditions have been linked to drospirenone, which is a synthetic progestin that makes up the active ingredient in Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills. Other side effects linked to Yaz and Yasmin include heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease and kidney stones.
For years, Bayer has maintained that Yaz is safe, or at least no more dangerous than older birth control pills that don’t contain drospirenone. Now that Bayer has started to concede that the pills may be related to blood clots, the company has begun settling more than 3,400 of the lawsuits filed against them. So far, the company has agreed to pay out over $700 million to plaintiffs, and more settlements are expected in the future. In fact, some experts believe that Bayer will pay out more than a billion dollars before the lawsuits stop.
