Yaz Blood Clots Blamed for Daughter’s Sudden Death
Mother Paulette Morgan filed a Yaz lawsuit on behalf of her daughter, Alice, in 2009, claiming that Alice was taking Yaz birth control when she died. The case was initially dismissed due to a technicality, but was recently reinstated by U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon, and will now be heard along with the rest of the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits currently in federal MDL. Paulette is one of many mothers who have suffered serious losses allegedly caused by Yaz blood clots.
Yaz lawsuit reinstated by Judge Herndon
In 2009, when Paulette Morgan first filed her Yaz lawsuit, she failed to provide what is known as a “plaintiff fact sheet (PFS).” The fact sheet is supposed to be served to the defendants—in this case, Bayer—and is to include record release authorizations, a signed declaration, and copies of all pertinent documents. Apparently, Ms. Morgan failed to complete the PFS within the allotted time, and a notice of “overdue discovery” was issued on June 6, 2011. By mid July, the PFS still had not been received, so Judge Herndon ordered the case dismissed.
Shortly after that, Ms. Morgan completed the PFS and filed a motion asking that her case be restored. Judge Herndon reinstated the case on August 5, 2011, allowing it to continue as part of the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits currently proceeding in federal MDL.
Alice Morgan not the first alleged Yaz death
Ms. Morgan claims that had her daughter known about the serious risks associated with Yaz and Yasmin—namely, Yaz blood clots—she would not have taken it. In her Yaz lawsuit, she alleges strict product liability and negligence.
Unfortunately, Ms. Morgan isn’t the first to suffer the loss of a child due to alleged Yaz death. Joan Cummins, a New Jersey woman, has also filed a Yaz lawsuit on behalf of her deceased daughter, Michelle Pfieger. Ms. Pfieger was only 18 years old when she collapsed on her way to morning classes at the University of North Carolina. An autopsy found that she died from a heart attack triggered by a blood clot in the lungs. Ms. Pfieger was prescribed Yaz to help alleviate acne. Her mother feels it was the birth control drug that caused the Yaz blood clot.
“One day she was a freshman at college,” Ms. Cummins said, “and the next she was gone.”
Yaz blood clots named in Yaz lawsuits
Studies recently published in the British Medical Journal have found that women taking birth control with the hormone drospirenone (which includes Yaz and Yasmin) have a three-fold or two-fold risk of developing serious blood clots than women taking other types of birth control. Nearly 6,000 Yaz or Yasmin lawsuits are currently proceeding in MDL, with the first bellwether trial scheduled for January, 2012. That trial and the first Yaz lawsuit in New Jersey mass tort litigation are reported to be focused on Yaz blood clots.
Ms. Morgan hopes her case will result in both compensatory and punitive damages.
