What's Wrong With Yaz Birth Control Pills?

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Greenberg & Bederman

 

There has been a more or less constant stream of news about Bayer’s line of birth control pills for about two years now. Sometimes the news is a flood, while other times it is merely a trickle, but as a story it has never gone away entirely.

We view this as a good thing. The more women know about the dangers of Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella birth control pills, the more likely they are to find alternative methods of birth control, which means that they will be less likely to suffer from blood clots, pulmonary embolisms, strokes, heart attacks or gall bladder disease.

These health risks appear to be coming from a specific ingredient in these pills, which is a synthetic variation of progestin called drospirenone. While there is a risk of blood clots with practically every form of birth control pill, the risk of a blood clotting episode for women taking a birth control pill with drospirenone is 75% greater, according to a study by the FDA.

One of the theories as to why these clots occur is that drospirenone might elevate the potassium levels in the blood stream, which causes the clotting mechanism in the blood to become more sensitive. The elevated potassium level in your blood essentially tricks your brain into thinking that you are bleeding somewhere, when in fact you are not. Clots have a tendency to form in the deep arterial veins in the legs. These clots then break apart into tiny pieces, and these pieces travel through the bloodstream. This is when they cause blockages in blood flow, either in the heart (heart attack,) lungs (pulmonary embolism,) or brain (stroke.)

 

The FDA had been keeping an eye on this line of drugs, initially for valid reasons but reasons that overlooked the real dangers of the drug. The FDA’s first problem with Yaz was not the clotting dangers of drospirenone, but rather the advertising campaign that Bayer attached to the product. The advertisements inferred that Yaz would help women lose weight, would cure their acne and would cure all the symptoms of PMS. This was a gross overstatement of what Yaz can do for some users. In the first place, it doesn’t help all women lose weight. Some women reported that they lost weight, but some also reported that they simply didn’t gain any weight, while some women reported that they did in fact gain a pound or two. If you ran a survey of practically every woman who was on birth control pills you would probably get the same results.

Secondly, while Yaz provided some relief of severe acne, it didn’t do much for minor to moderate acne. Nor would it “cure” PMS. Instead users who were suffering from Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) reported experiencing some relief, but it should be mentioned that there is a big difference between PMS and PMDD. It’s the equivalent of the difference between a mild headache and a crippling migraine. It was disingenuous at best for Bayer to advertise that these pills would simply take care of conditions that women find troubling as well as providing them with contraception.

Disingenuous or not, the campaign worked. Yaz became the #1 selling birth control pill in the United States, which became alarming considering the damaging and potentially deadly side effects of this birth control pill. The FDA is finally getting around to considering what to do regarding pills with drospirenone, but in the meantime the product is still on the shelves, and is still being prescribed at an alarming rate.

At Greenberg and Bederman, we have been providing legal counsel for several victims of Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella, and are still offering legal services for women who have been adversely affected by Bayer’s birth control pills. But we are still concerned about this rogue ingredient drospirenone, which Bayer doubled down on in the new pill called Beyaz, and has been picked up by other manufacturers of birth control pills. This includes the brand names Syeda and Loryna, as well as Zarah. We would urge any woman in the D.C. area who has been prescribed these pills to please re-think your prescription and ask for a different method of birth control, preferably one that does not contain drospirenone.

If you or a loved one in Virginia, Maryland or Washington, D.C. has been injured or hospitalized due to injuries suffered from Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella, Syeda, Loryna, Zarah, or any other form of birth control with drospirenone, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free consultation today.
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No Speedy Trial For Injury Victims

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Greenberg & Bederman

 

The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution often causes a bit of confusion, particularly among those who are involved in civil lawsuits. A lot of our injury clients have to wait for quite some time before they get within sight of a courtroom, and every now and then somebody asks about “the right to a speedy trial.”

While it’s true that the Sixth Amendment does cover the right to a “speedy trial,” it only makes that promise to those involved in criminal cases. If you are accused of robbing a bank, arson, purse snatching, murder, or any other crime, then yes, you do have a right to a speedy trial. One of the reasons that this was written into the Constitution was because back in the 18th century, the British authorities thought nothing of locking up undesirables for long periods of time. People would be put in prison for months or even years, and no actual trial would ever happen. This was a way to keep people locked up without having to actually sentence them.  

This happened often enough that our founding fathers decided to actively address it in our founding document:

 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

This is a good thing to have if you happen to find yourself accused of a crime, but for those of you who are pursuing a civil remedy to a personal injury or a breach of a contract, there is no real time line for your case to get to court. You will get there eventually. But quite often, it benefits the defense to drag out the process as long as possible.

Here is an example: We have been discussing the serious health problems that have occurred with women who have been using Bayer’s line of birth control pills for about two years now. The issues with Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella have been going on for a lot longer than two years. It has been pretty well established that otherwise healthy women have been hospitalized with pulmonary embolisms, deep vein thrombosis, strokes, heart attacks and gall bladder disease, and the one major thing these women had in common was that they were taking Bayer’s line of birth control pills, each of which contain a synthetic variation of progestin called drospirenone. This ingredient can cause an increase in potassium levels in the bloodstream, which leads to a more active clotting mechanism. Clots form in the bloodstream, and then they start to travel, which leads to blockages in the bloodstream. This is where the pulmonary embolisms, strokes and heart attacks come from. The contention of the majority of these lawsuits is that Bayer failed to adequately research the effects that this new ingredient would have on the women who used their birth control pills.

As we said before, we have been discussing this for over two years now. In fact, we have a few clients who have been injured due to what we believe are these defective yaz birth control pills, and thousands of other women all over the country have filed suit for identical reasons. A few of these cases have finally been scheduled for October of next year:

 “The first trial dates for any Yaz lawsuits, Yasmin lawsuit or Ocella lawsuit pending in New Jersey state court will begin in the fall of 2012, with at least two cases to be selected as test cases out of hundreds of claims pending in the state.”

If this were a criminal case, the delay wouldn’t nearly be this long.

In many respects, defendants in injury cases use this delay to their advantage. The longer it takes for an injury victim to get to court, the more likely it is that this person will either accept a settlement that is much less than they can deserve, or will give up the case entirely.

For instance, let’s say you get hit by a car and have to spend six weeks in the hospital. During these six weeks, you aren’t working. You have no source of income. This does not matter one bit to the utilities, the bank that holds your mortgage, and the credit card companies. They expect to get paid. The insurance company of the driver that hit you has no such financial worries. Ultimately, they have you at a disadvantage, and many insurance companies will offer you much less than you will need to support yourself. If you refuse that offer, they have all the time in the world. They can request delays in the court proceedings, and often do. In the meantime, your financial situation gets more precarious with each passing day. All of a sudden, that initial lowball settlement offer starts to look pretty good.

One of the major problems with the Sixth Amendment is that it does nothing to address the delay that injury victims have to face to get their cases heard. While having an experienced attorney to help you navigate the legal process in your injury claim ensures your rights are protected, there is unfortunately, no such thing as a “speedy trial” for injury victims.

Greenberg and Bederman is a personal injury law firm located in the Washington, D.C. area. We are currently offering legal assistance to those who have been injured due to no fault of their own, and that includes car accidents, medical malpractice, defective drugs, and pedestrian or bicycle accidents. If you or a loved one has been injured due to someone else, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free consultation.
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Is Agent Orange Affecting Fort Detrick Water Pollution Problem?

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

The war in Vietnam seems occurred a long time ago. But for those who actually participated, we are willing to bet that they don’t view it as ancient history. There are still Vietnam veterans in America who have had difficulty coping with their experiences. Exposure to the extreme dangers of combat is not something that can be easily shrugged off. American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are proving that premise to still be true.

But the Vietnam War was different for a few reasons. Many veterans of that conflict brought back injuries that were neither psychological, nor were they of the sort that are consistent with combat. Many soldiers suffered from a disproportionately high rate of throat cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. Many of them found that their wives were suffering from miscarriages, or that their children were being born with birth defects.

To be sure, these things can and do happen to many people, regardless of whether they served in Vietnam or not, but it is worth noting that among Vietnam veterans who took part in a military effort named “Operation Ranch Hand,” the numbers of cancer and birth defects is incredibly high.

Operation Ranch Hand was the name given to a military program in which chemical herbicides and defoliants were sprayed over the jungles of Vietnam. The purpose of spraying these chemicals was to remove the habitat, cover and support system of the Viet Cong, and to force them into the cities, where the Vietnamese population was generally less supportive of the guerilla forces or North Vietnam in general. Between 1962 and 1971, over 20 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed over the jungles in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

 

While the chemicals involved certainly did their job, they also wreaked havoc on the rural civilian population of Vietnam. Tens of thousands of civilians died early of cancer, and tens of thousands of children were born seriously deformed. And among the helicopter pilots, vehicle loaders and Special Forces units who handled the herbicide, the rate of cancer and birth defects skyrocketed.

There were two sorts of chemicals that were used to defoliate the jungles of Southeast Asia. One was called Agent Blue, but the chemical that was deemed the most effective and therefore saw the most use was called Agent Orange.

The Vietnam War was close to 40 years ago, and Southeast Asia is practically on the other side of the world, but if you think that the use of Agent Orange by the United States is not something that you should be concerned with, you should think again. Particularly if you live in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Frederick News-Post, 11/18/10: The Army sprayed about 17 pounds of a main Agent Orange ingredient on sections of Fort Detrick between 1944 and 1968, an official announced at a meeting Wednesday night. Randal Curtis, program manager for the St. Louis district of the Army Corps of Engineers, presented the preliminary Archives Search Report to the Fort Detrick Restoration Advisory Board. The findings were based on technical reports, standard operating procedures, lab notes, maps and photos uncovered in archive and records locations around the country. Curtis' office was tasked with sifting through these documents for any information on 2,4,5-T, one of two main ingredients in Agent Orange.

According to the preliminary report, Fort Detrick was the headquarters of the Chemical Warfare Service's special projects division during and after World War II, making it a hub for offensive and defensive biological research and development. 2, 4, 5-T was tested at Fort Detrick in three main time periods: 1944-1951, 1953 and 1961-1963.

As you can probably infer from that story, Agent Orange was not the only chemical that was tested on the grounds of Fort Detrick. But Agent Orange was sprayed into the ground, and the harmful effects of this chemical is well documented. And if you consider that Fort Detrick is currently the site of Army medical research, and that it used to be the headquarters of the Army biological and chemical weapons program, you can well imagine that the health of the surrounding residents is probably considerably worse than those who do not live near there.

The EPA has designated Fort Detrick a Superfund Cleanup Site, which means that in terms of the level of toxic waste and the potential harm that this place can do to the environment and the health of people around the area, its cleanup is an absolute priority. But that is small consolation to those who have already gotten sick, or worse. Frederick County is currently determining whether or not the surrounding area will officially be designated a cancer cluster, but even if they determine that it is not, it is impossible to imagine that sixty years of chemical and biological weapons testing and medical waste dumping had no effect on the groundwater or air quality for nearby residents.

Greenberg and Bederman is currently offering legal help for residents around Fort Detrick, Maryland who have suffered from unexplained illnesses, including birth defects, throat cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer or other serious diseases. We believe that the groundwater and air around Fort Detrick has been responsible for a high level of diseases and illnesses, and it is our hope that we can secure compensation for the victims. If you or a loved one has been affected by the pollution near Fort Detrick, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free legal consultation. 
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Yaz Birth Control Pill Lawsuits in Canada

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

Damage from Yaz birth control pills is International

At Greenberg and Bederman, we have been keeping a close eye on developments regarding Bayer’s line of Yaz birth control pills.  For those of you who have not been informed, birth control pills that have been marketed under the names of Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella have been linked to serious health complications among the women who use them.

Since Yaz and Yasmin have been on the market, there have been thousands of incidents of strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms and gall bladder disease among otherwise perfectly healthy women who have been using these pills.

What appears to be the cause of these medical complications is that when Bayer developed these pills, they chose to use as an ingredient a synthetic variation of progestin called drospirenone. This ingredient has been shown to increase the potassium levels in the bloodstreams of those who use it. When potassium levels increase substantially, this can cause blood clots to develop in the main arteries and veins in the legs. This condition is called “deep vein thrombosis.” While the clots themselves are relatively harmless, complications develop when these clots break apart and start to travel through the bloodstream. When these bits of blood clot get to the lungs, the heart or the brain, the end result can be a pulmonary embolism, a heart attack or a stroke.

 

The FDA is currently investigating these pills, which unfortunately is a process that can take months. In the meantime, there have been a slew of lawsuits filed against Bayer all over the United States, so much so to the point that many of them have been consolidated under what is called “multi-district litigation.” To understand multi-district litigation please read our article on Understanding Yaz Class Action Lawsuits. This is when tort cases that are similar in nature are essentially placed under the same ground rules in terms of evidence and witness testimony.

The premise of many of the yaz lawsuits is that not only did Bayer release and aggressively market a drug that is hazardous to women who use it, but that they did so while knowing that the use of dropserinone made it more dangerous than other birth control pills on the market. Many lawsuits are also alleging that Bayer used misleading marketing to increase sales, implying in their advertisements that Yaz could clear up all forms of acne or help women get past the negative emotional experiences of PMS.

And it isn’t just in the United States that these lawsuits are taking place. Our neighbors to the north are experiencing the same problems with Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella. There were 2 million prescriptions of Yaz and Yasmin in Canada in 2009.

In an article on CTV Edmonton, some women who have been taking these birth control pills are experiencing similar if not identical problems. One woman from Nova Scotia experienced a racing heart beat and dizziness after only taking Yaz for a short period of time. After being told by her doctors that she was essentially fine, she suffered what is called a transient ischemic attack, or a “mini stroke.” It left her paralyzed on the left side of her body and she was unable to communicate with anyone for an extended period of time.

Another woman from Halifax switched from Yasmin to Yaz due to some initial discomfort, but after 18 months on the pill she began to experience severe abdominal pains. Upon being examined by doctors, they determined that she had severe gallstones and that her gall bladder would have to be removed. The use of Yaz and gall bladder problems are not unrelated either.

 Bayer is steadfastly denying that they acted inappropriately or even that there is anything wrong with its Yaz birth control pills:

Bayer contends its oral contraceptives "have been and continue to be extensively studied worldwide and are safe and effective when used according to the product labeling."

"Bayer reaffirms and stands behind the safety of its drospirenone-containing oral contraceptives," the company said in a response to CTV News.

As for the lawsuits, Bayer said it is "in the process of gathering information on these cases, but the complaints we have reviewed so far pertain to side effects that are warned about in the labeling of all oral contraceptives, including ours. Bayer will defend itself vigorously against these lawsuits."

The judicial process in Canada is somewhat different from ours, but what we do have in common is that the Canadian courts recognize the rights of citizens to seek damages from those who are responsible for their injuries. We believe that Bayer released and aggressively marketed a pill that is dangerous to women, and that they did so with the knowledge of the risks. As a result of this, women who have been injured or hospitalized due to the use of Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella are entitled to compensation for their medical bills, pain and suffering and lost income.

Greenberg and Bederman is a Washington, D.C. based injury law firm, and we are currently offering legal assistance to women who have been injured due to the use of Bayer’s line of birth control pills. If you or a loved one in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. has been hospitalized due to the use of Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

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Yaz Birth Control Injury Differences

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

DC Area Yaz Birth Control Injury Law Firm Greenberg and Bederman is Currently Offering Legal Assistance

As many of you probably know, the Bayer Corporation is facing a series of yaz lawsuits in various American states due to problems that users of their line of birth control pills are experiencing. If you don't know about yaz health problems, please read our page on yaz history.The difference between Bayer’s pills and most other oral contraceptives on the market is that Bayer’s birth control pills (which are marketed under the names Yaz, Yasmin, and a generic version called Ocella) all contain a synthetic variation of progestin called drispirenone. While the use of drispirenone has been marketed by Bayer as having some beneficial peripheral effects such as prevention of minor acne or helping to alleviate the symptoms of pre menstrual dysphoric disorder, Bayer failed to mention in either it’s marketing campaign or the warning labels used on the medication that drispirenone raises the risk of deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots in the deep arteries and veins of the legs. These blood clots can then break apart, and the pieces can travel through the bloodstream, which can cause strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms. The use of drispirenone has also lead to a higher than normal rate of gall bladder disease.

These side effects of yaz are not merely theoretical. There have been hundreds of women who have been seriously injured and hospitalized all over the country due to clot-based injuries. Otherwise perfectly healthy women have suffered from strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms and gall bladder disease, and there have even been more than fifty deaths.

 

As a result of these injuries and deaths, over 1100 lawsuits have been filed nationwide, with many of them falling under Multi District Litigation, which is a way to place cases with similar backgrounds against the same defendant under the same ground rules. A few class action suits (in which one group of attorneys represents multiple plaintiffs under the heading of one case) have also been filed.

Bayer has, of course, vowed to fight any and all yaz lawsuits regarding their line of birth control pills, and we certainly believe them. With profits of Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella reaching $1.7 billion dollars in 2009, Bayer can afford to wage as many court battles as they see fit. Even with all the justified bad publicity, Yaz is still Bayer’s top selling product.

The Bayer Corporation has already given some clues as to what they expect their defense to be. They recently made an attempt to allow past birth control history of the plaintiff’s to be used as evidence, which was quite rightly denied. And based on public statements by Bayer, we are expecting them to center their defenses on the warning label that is currently in place on the products themselves.

Bayer will probably wear the current label as a shield against any liability, with the premise being “Look, we have a warning label on the box, and the doctors who prescribe it have their warnings as well. If you didn’t read it, we can hardly be expected to be blamed for that.”

There are a few things wrong with that premise. In the first place, the warnings weren’t mentioned very prominently in the enormous and splashy advertising campaign that Bayer used for Yaz. The focus on these ads was all about what Yaz could do for you besides keep you from getting pregnant. In the second place, while the warning on the doctor’s labels does admit that there is a risk of hyperlykemia (elevated potassium levels,) it fails to mention that drispirenone has a higher risk of causing hyperlykemia than any other progestin based oral contraceptive on the market. Since hyperlykemia is a possibility with most other pills, this warning label basically makes it seem as if Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella are no different than any other pill on the market when it comes to risk, and this is simply not true.

An equivalent here would be if a gun manufacturer was selling a pistol that has a higher tendency to fire accidentally than any other gun on the market, but since there is a slight chance that many guns on the market will fire accidentally, their particular gun is no different than the others.

When you study the injuries associated with yaz Bayer’s warning labels should produce a list of conditions that should discourage you from taking any of their drispirenone based pills:

Yaz should not be used in women who have the following:

·         Renal insufficiency

·         Hepatic dysfunction

·         Adrenal Insufficiency

·         Thrombophlebitis or thromboembolic disorders

·         A past history of deep-vein thrombophlebitis or thromboembolic disorders

·         Cerebral-vascular or coronary-artery disease (current or history)

·         Valvular heart disease with thrombogenic complications

·         Severe hypertension

·         Diabetes with vascular involvement

·         Headaches with focal neurological symptoms

·         Major surgery with prolonged immobilization

·         Known or suspected carcinoma of the breast

·         Carcinoma of the endometrium or other known or suspected estrogen-dependent neoplasia

·         Undiagnosed abnormal genital bleeding

·         Cholestatic jaundice of pregnancy or jaundice with prior Pill use

·         Known or suspected pregnancy

·         Liver tumor (benign or malignant) or active liver disease

·         Heavy smoking (≥ 15 cigarettes per day) and over age 35

·         Hypersensitivity to any component of this product

This is all well and good, but that doesn’t explain the hundreds of women who are suffering from none of these symptoms who are still being injured and hospitalized. And aside from that obvious red flag, these symptoms all more or less appear as disqualifications on the warnings for practically every other birth control pill out there. This again makes it appear that Bayer’s line of birth control pills are just the same as every other oral contraceptive, when they are in fact not, and that is one of the major reasons for all of these yaz lawsuits.

The “read the warning label” argument doesn’t carry any water unless that warning label clearly states that drispirenone increases your chances of hyperlykemia, which increase your chances of DVT, which increases your chances of heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms and gall bladder disease. The increased chances aren’t mentioned in a clear manner at all. Bayer did not say “Here is a birth control pill that can prevent acne and the symptoms of PMDD, but it increases the odds that you will suffer from blood clots. Take it at your own risk.” They simply said “Here is a standard, run of the mill birth control pill, except it can prevent acne and the symptoms of PMDD!”

Greenberg and Bederman is currently offering legal assistance for people in the Washington D.C. area who have been injured due to the use of Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella. Our attorneys are working diligently to help women in Virginia, Maryland and the District who have been hospitalized due to Bayer’s line of birth control pills. If you or a loved one has been injured in this manner, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free yaz legal consultation today.

To learn more about yaz birth control, please read our yaz lawyers website page, or watch our yaz video on Youtube.

 
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Yaz Birth Control Alternatives

Posted on December 30, 2009 by Greenberg & Bederman

As we have been reporting extensively over the past few months, Bayer’s line of birth control pills has been a source of major controversy over the past year or so. The pills (which are marketed under the names Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella) first came to the attention of the general public when the Food and Drug Administration ordered Bayer to remake an advertising campaign in October of 2008. The FDA’s problem with the campaign was that it overstated the supposed side benefits of Yaz (treatment for acne and depression,) while understating the increased dangers that the special ingredient posed towards the women who used the pill.

While the FDA was having problems with the advertising, the women who were actually using the products themselves were having serious problems of their own. The new ingredient that Bayer decided to use for these birth control pills is called drospirenone, which is a synthetic variation of progestin. Along with the supposed benefits of decreased acne and an easier time with premenstrual dysphoric disorder, this ingredient has also been shown to increase the odds of deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the legs.) These blood clots have a tendency to break apart, and the pieces of the clots have a tendency to travel through the bloodstream. This can cause pulmonary embolisms, strokes and heart attacks among women who are otherwise healthy.

To be fair, there is a risk of deep vein thrombosis associated with most forms of oral contraceptives, but the problem with Bayer’s line of pills is that the drospirenone increases those odds pretty substantially. According to the British Medical Journal, there is a 6.3 fold increase of deep vein thrombosis among women who use birth control pills containing drospirenone. Bayer’s birth control pills are the only brands available that use drospirenone, so the BMJ’s study might as well just say “Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella.”

 

From here, it’s just a matter of arithmetic. A 6.3 fold increase might not seem like much, but if you consider the full on advertising blitz that Bayer put on in order to sell this drug, then it stands to reason that the number of women who take this drug without knowing about the additional risks will increase, which therefore increases the number of women who are suffering from adverse effects. And that’s been an obvious problem. Thousands of otherwise women all over the country are finding themselves hospitalized with strokes, heart attacks or pulmonary embolisms, and the only consistent factor among these women is that they have been taking Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella.

Considering the increased risk of health problems that drospirenone can bring with it, we would urge any woman considering taking an oral contraceptive to avoid Bayer’s line of birth control pills and to consider some of the many alternatives that are available on the market. While there is still a risk of blood clotting with most birth control pills that are based on hormone replacement, the risks are significantly lower with pills other than Yaz. In fact, some of the safest pills on the market are the so-called second generation pills that contain low doses of estrogen and variations on progesterone that are much safer than drospirenone.

Lybrel: This is a pill that contains a hormone called levonorgestrel, which has been shown in most studies to have the lowest risk of deep vein thrombosis (clots.)

Nordette: This is another low dose estrogen/levonorgestrel combination pill, and Nordette is in fact just one of the many brands that use this combination. And again, levonorgestrel has the lowest incident rate of deep vein thrombosis.

Seasonique: Another levonorgestrel pill, which comes with additional benefits in terms of regulation of menstruation.

The injury law firm of Greenberg and Bederman has taken an active role in the Washington, D.C. area in both warning women of the potential hazards of Bayer’s line of birth control pills and offering legal help for women who have already been injured because of them. We are currently representing women who have been hospitalized with pulmonary embolisms, strokes or heart attacks after using Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella. Thanks to recent actions by the federal courts, the process of getting your case through the legal system has been streamlined, which is making it that much easier for your case to be heard relatively quickly. Rulings have also been made that will safeguard your privacy throughout the process.

If you or a loved one in Baltimore, Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC has been injured due to Yaz, Yasmin or Ocella, contact our yaz lawyer, Andy Bederman, for a free yaz legal consultation.
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Birth Injury Lawyer

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Greenberg & Bederman

 

 Birth Injury Lawyer

A few years ago, former talk show host Ricki Lake released a surprisingly good and informative documentary called The Business of Being Born. The premise of the film was that pregnant women in the United States are put through what is essentially an assembly line process when it comes to giving birth. Profit driven hospitals give drugs that induce contractions and encourage women to get caesarean sections at the slightest provocation, and they do this simply because of the speed and convenience of it. What matters to these hospitals is not necessarily what is best for the health of the mother and the infant, but rather the amount of women they can get in and out as quickly as possible.

Ms. Lake brings up some very good points. If the birthing procedure is now riddled with chemically induced shortcuts and uses surgical delivery as an easy way out, it is not much of a surprise that the United States has the second worst newborn death rate in the developed world.

You can also consider that since the emphasis is placed on getting women in and out quickly rather than safely, the amount of birth injuries that take place in America shouldn’t come as much of a shock either. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there are 6.68 birth trauma incidents per 1,000 live births. That includes injuries to the shoulders, chest, arms, lungs and head, any of which could seriously harm the development of the newborn child and could cause a permanent injury, such as erbs palsy, or brachial plexus.

 

There are several reasons for the occurrence of a birth injury, but one of the more common causes is a mistake in the delivery process by the attending physician. And considering that doctors are now working under the ethos that “time is money” instead of “patient safety first,” it isn’t much of a surprise that the numbers are so high.

What follows are two of the more serious injuries, and descriptions of the long lasting effects that they have on their victims.

Cerebral Palsy: CP is essentially a blanket term that covers a myriad of damages to the brain of a newborn child. These damages can result in impairment of movement, cognitive ability and physical abilities. What essentially happens is that the flow of blood to the brain is either slowed or impaired. While this could be bad enough for an adult, it can prove devastating to a newborn infant, especially considering how crucial steady brain function is to development. There are dozens of medical mistakes that can lead to neurological damage, including:

  • Leaving a child in the birth canal for too long of a period of time
  • Failure to detect an umbilical cord around the neck
  • Improper use of vacuum extraction or forceps

Shoulder Dystocia: This occurs when the shoulder of the infant is unable to pass below the pubic bone, essentially leaving it stuck in the birth canal. This is actually a very dangerous situation for both the mother and the infant, as prolonged time in the birth canal can lead to a deficiency of oxygen. Episodes of shoulder dystocia happen on a fairly regular basis, occurring in approximately 1% of vaginal births. Another major concern with shoulder dystocia is that the brachial plexus nerves can be damaged. These nerves are crucial to the ability of the arms and hands to move and feel. A serious case of shoulder dystocia can leave an infant with Erb’s Palsy, which means paralyzed arms and shoulders for the rest of his or her life.

There are certainly cases where victims of cerebral palsy or shoulder dystocia brachial plexus have suffered due to no real fault of the doctor, but if the doctor fails to adhere to the medical community under what is called the standard of care in the delivery of a baby, then that doctor may have perfomed negligence in the delivery. A failure to recognize umbilical cord placement, a delay in necessary treatment or ignoring inherent risks and dangers can and have contributed to serious and life long injuries to newborn infants.

At Greenberg and Bederman, we provide experienced and dedicated legal counsel for those who have been injured due to acts of medical malpractice, including negligence that resulted in a baby being born with cerebral palsy or erbs palsy. We have helped families all over Washington, D.C, Maryland and Virginia get the compensation they need to help care for their injured child for life. If you or someone you love has had a child born with a birth injury, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free birth injury legal consultation today.

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Yaz or Yasmin Birth Control Side Effects

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Greenberg & Bederman

 Yaz birth control side effects

Whenever you think about birth control side effects, what comes to mind?

A little bit of weight gain? A minor swelling of the breasts, or maybe breast soreness? A lightening of the period, or spotting between periods? An occasional mood swing?

These are the sorts of birth control side effects that have occurred on a pretty regular basis since the birth control pill was placed on the market. Most women and medical professionals view these issues as more of a nuisance than a detriment. And quite often, even if they do occur, the benefits of the pill seem to far outweigh the negative aspects.

But there are other side effects to the pill that don’t even belong under that category. While breast soreness and weight gain can fall under the category of “birth control side effects,” strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms certainly can’t. These injuries can at the very least be considered “birth control complications,” but if the pharmaceutical industry were to be honest, they would call them “birth control dangers.”

After all, there is a big difference between coping with gaining five pounds and learning how to live your life after a massive stroke from a birth control with severe adverse side effects. And while weight gain or other minor inconveniences are far more likely than stroke, heart attacks or pulmonary embolisms with standard, run of the mill birth control pills, the odds of a “birth control danger” happening to users of a line of birth control pills manufactured by Bayer are much higher.

The birth control pills in question go under the names “Yaz,” “Yasmin” and “Oscella.” These pills were marketed by Bayer as not only birth control pills, but also as “lifestyle choices.” The pills were sold in flashy, chic advertising campaigns that showed successful women in expensive clubs and seemingly prestigious universities touting the big differences that these pills have made to their lives.

These birth control pills were marketed as a cure for acne, and as a cure for PMS, PMDD and mood swings. It was even marketed as a “light dose” pill, which gives one the impression that you could take it without having to worry about those minor “birth control side effects” that we mentioned earlier. And while that might be the case, we are quite sure that any user of Yaz, Yasmin or Oscella would choose breast soreness over a pulmonary embolism any day of the week.

 

What makes Bayer’s line of birth contyrol pills yaz, yasmin, and ocella,more dangerous is the use of a synthetic variation of progestin called drispirenone. This variation is what is supposed to bring with it “freedom” from acne, PMS, etc. But what drispirenone is also apparently doing is raising the potassium levels in the bloodstream of women how have been taking Yaz, Yasmin or Oscella. This is not a harmless development. High potassium levels in the blood add to an already existing risk of blood clotting, which can and does lead to strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms. More and more women are coming forward with their stories of very painful episodes of hospitalization as the result of taking these birth control pills, and there have been some cases that almost defy description.

Consider Susan Galinis. She lives in San Francisco and is the mother of 3 year old twins. Ms. Galinis suffered from fairly severe menstrual pain, so her doctor recommended that she start taking Yaz. Exactly one month and one day after she began to take the pill, she suffered an enormous stroke. The swelling in her brain was so severe that surgeons had to remove a part of her skull.

Ms. Galinis’ stroke is not the sort from which one recovers. In her own words:

"My IQ has plummeted to 77, which I guess is borderline mentally retarded, from the stroke, from the brain damage, that's what they say it is…”

She was in the hospital for six months. She cannot drive and can barely take care of herself, let alone her two children. She has no capacity for short term memory. And according to her own doctors, what caused this catastrophic stroke was the use of Yaz birth control pills. So Ms. Galinis is quite rightly filed a lawsuit against Bayer not only for damages, but also to attempt to take the pills of the market altogether.

Bayer responded with the following:

"Patient safety is our top priority. Bayer's oral contraceptives have been and continue to be extensively studied worldwide and are safe and effective when used according to the product labeling."

This response implies that Ms. Galinis has nobody to blame for her condition but herself. That she somehow bungled using the pills, or simply didn’t pay attention to any of the warnings. But bear in mind that Bayer themselves did a remarkably poor job warning the public of any complications that may occur. And it should also be noted that there are plenty of women who followed what warning there were to the letter, and still ended up hospitalized or worse from the adverse side effects of these birth control pills.

Greenberg and Bederman is a law firm that is currently offering assistance to women in the Washington, D.C. area who have suffered from serious side effect complications due to being prescribed Yaz, Yasmin or Oscella. If you or a loved one in the District, Northern Virginia, Maryland or Baltimore have suffered an injury or hospitalization due to the use of any of Bayer’s line of birth control pills, including yaz, yasmin, or oscella, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free yaz injury legal consultation today.

 

 

 

To learn more about yaz side effects, please read our yaz page.  To learn more abour our yaz lawyer, Andy Bederman, please read yaz bio or watch his yaz lawyer video.

 

To learn more about yaz, yasmin, or oscella dangerous side effects, please vist our website and click on the yaz page, or go to our youtube site and watch our yaz attorney video.
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