Kimberly Wagoner is a resident of Massachusetts who has filed a recent Yasmin lawsuit against Bayer, the manufacturers of the birth control pills. Her lawsuit was filed over side effects linked to the pills; namely, pulmonary embolism.
Wagoner was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism after taking Yaz. Like many plaintiffs, Wagoner’s lawsuit claims that the drug giant failed to properly warn her of the side effects linked to the pills before she started taking them. Her lawsuit is going to join the current MDL in Illinois rather than join a class action lawsuit that was filed against Bayer. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Bayer by patients, all of whom claim that the company knew, or should have known, about the dangers associated with Yaz and Yasmin.
The main cause of the side effects associated with Yaz has been proven to be the pill’s primary active ingredient, drospirenone (a synthetic progestin). Some of those side effects linked to drospirenone include heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease, pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis that is caused by blood clots. Bayer has generally stood up for the pills, but with the recent settlement agreement the company made, it may finally be getting closer to admitting that drospirenone is more dangerous than older generation birth control pills that don’t contain drospirenone. This is based on the fact that Bayer agreed to a settlement with as many as 500 plaintiffs to the tune of $110 million or $220,000 per plaintiff.
While Bayer may not yet be ready to assume complete liability toward all plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits against them, the company has at least taken a small step forward in reaching the settlement agreements. While the initial per-plaintiff payment may not sound big enough, it is future Yaz plaintiffs who will have the final say.
