The current Yaz MDL that is taking place in Illinois federal court has just added a new complaint that was filed by April and Jamie Grimm. The Grimms’ original Yaz lawsuit was filed in April in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa; however, the case was moved to the MDL on May 1 of this year.
Both of the plaintiffs (April and her spouse) are accusing Bayer of designing, manufacturing and selling a product that is dangerous. The “dangerous” claims are supported by the fact that April developed deep vein thrombosis after taking the pills. This failure to warn case joins numerous others with similar claims. Deep vein thrombosis is caused by blood clots in the legs. Other blood clot-related injuries caused by Yaz include strokes and pulmonary embolisms. Yaz has also been linked to gallbladder disease, kidney stones, heart attacks and irritable bowel syndrome.
These side effects have caused numerous lawsuits to be filed against Bayer, the makers of the pills. While Bayer is in the process of negotiating various settlement agreements over blood clot-related side effects caused by Yaz use, the company still isn’t willing to completely admit liability. The company has been sued by thousands of women and their families for failure to warn the public and healthcare professionals of the dangers linked to Yaz. With more and more women filing lawsuits every week, Bayer is likely to be in settlement negotiations throughout 2013, and possibly well beyond that.
The cause of all of these lawsuits and injuries is the pills’ main active ingredient, drospirenone, which is a synthetic progestin. Drospirenone has caused numerous reviews of the fourth generation pills. Not all of the reviews have been met without controversy. Back in 2011, a panel advisory meeting reviewed Yaz blood clot concerns and voted to keep the pills on the market with a stricter warning. That decision was greeted poorly when it was learned that four panel members had financial ties to Bayer.
