Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer

Another Lawsuit Filed Against the Maker of "Yaz" Birth Control

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:19:40 GMT

A woman is suing the maker of Yaz birth control after the contraceptive allegedly caused her to develop gall stones.

Melissa Johnson is suing Bayer, the maker of the prescription birth control, because she says it caused her to develop gall stones necessitating the removal of her gall bladder.

According to the complaint, Yaz contains drospirenone, a type of progestin not contained in any other birth control and of which "there is insufficient data to support its safe use." The complaint states that, since Yaz first appeared in the U.S., "hundreds of reports of injury and death" have been submitted to the FDA.

The lawsuit also points out the maker's "over-promotion" of Yaz that led to the FDA requiring it to run new TV ads correcting some of the misleading information.

Click here to view the complaint.

**Also, anyone who has been adversely affected due to taking these prescription drugs, like Yasmin, Yaz or Ocella, should get in touch with Helen Zukin. Ms. Zukin recently retained a client, a young woman, who unfortunately suffered from a stroke, after only taking Ocella (generic version of Yaz) for a month.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Entertainer Impaled by Gate Operated by Indian Wells, Widow Sues City

Paul Kiesel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:30:46 GMT

From The Desert Sun:

A trial date for a case involving the death of a local entertainer is expected to be set by the end of the year, officials said.

Victor Leon, 63, of Palm Desert died Jan. 12 after he was impaled by a gate that pierced his car as he was driving through Indian Wells.

Leon was executive producer of Musical Chairs, a local tribute concert series featuring music by great American songwriters.

The incident occurred at the corner of Miles Avenue and Highway 111, near the construction site for the Indian Wells Crossing project.

Leon's wife, Elizabeth Leon, filed a lawsuit June 15 against the city of Indian Wells, the Coachella Valley Water District and two Illinois-based companies — Miles Lodge LLC and Jerson Investments LLC, demanding a jury trial.

A court hearing for the case was scheduled Oct. 7, but was canceled.

The next hearing date is set for Dec. 14, where it is expected that the judge will set the trial date, said Paul R. Kiesel, the Los Angeles-based attorney representing Elizabeth Leon.

“The investigation is ongoing to determine why this tragedy happened,” Kiesel said.

Miles Lodge LLC and Jerson Investments LLC are listed as owners of the property where the gate was, Kiesel said Friday.

Indian Wells and CVWD, however, had a legal easement that allowed employees to have access to and control of the area as well, he added.

According to court documents, the listed defendants “negligently designed, installed, maintained, controlled and operated the gate” that subsequently swung out into Miles Avenue, impaling Victor Leon.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Birth Control Pills Almost Double the Risk of Stroke

Paul Kiesel — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:36:27 GMT

From The Times of India:

According to a review article in MedLink Neurology by three Loyola University Health System neurologists, women who take birth control pills and also smoke, have high blood pressure or have a history of migraine headaches, significantly increase their risk of stroke.

The review found there were about 4.4 ischemic strokes for every 100,000 women of childbearing age, but birth control pills increase the risk of stroke 1.9 times, to 8.5 strokes per 100,000 women.

"When prescribing oral contraceptives, doctors should balance the risks and benefits for each individual patient," said senior author Dr. Jose Biller.

"For a healthy young woman without any other stroke risk factors, the benefits of birth control pills probably outweigh the risks. But if a woman has other stroke risk factors, she should be discouraged from using oral contraceptives,” the expert added.

How oral contraceptives might cause strokes is not completely understood. But two possible mechanisms are the increased risks of blood clots and high blood pressure associated with oral contraceptives, authors wrote.

**Also, anyone who has been adversely affected due to taking these prescription drugs, like Yasmin, Yaz or Ocella, should get in touch with Helen Zukin. Ms. Zukin recently retained a client, a young woman, who unfortunately suffered from a stroke, after only taking Ocella (generic version of Yaz) for a month.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Yaz: Riskier than Other Birth Control Pills?

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:53:50 GMT

Here's another sad story about woman from the Bay Area that suffered from a stroke and, subsequently, was in a comma and then hospitalized for six months, after only taking Yaz for a month for menstrual pains, as prescribed by her doctor.

In 2007, Susan Galinis was the happy mother of 3-year-old twins. She wanted to have more children, so when her doctor said she could either have a hysterectomy or take the Yaz birth control pill to control her menstrual pain, she opted for the pill.

Four weeks and one day after starting it, she had a stroke. Surgeons removed part of her skull to accommodate the brain swelling. She lived, but she's not the same.

"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," says Galinis.

Galinis was in the hospital for six months. She now has chronic pain and no short-term memory. She cannot drive. Her twins have had to adjust with the help of a counselor.

"She says basically to them their mom did die because she was there one day and the next day she was gone. I was gone for basically six months and then I came home with a different voice, a different personality," says Galinis.

Galinis says her doctors told her it was Yaz that caused the stroke. All birth control pills carry increased risk of stroke, but Galinis' lawyer Mike Danko says studies show it has twice the risk as other pills. On Monday, they filed suit against Yaz manufacturer Bayer.

Click here for the rest of the article.

**Also, anyone who has been adversely affected due to taking these prescription drugs should get in touch with Helen Zukin. Ms. Zukin recently retained a client, a young woman, who unfortunately suffered from a stroke, after only taking Ocella (generic version of Yaz) for a month.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Bayer, Birth Control Products and Blood Clots: Every Young Woman's Nightmare

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:36:33 GMT

From Reuters:

Kent L. Klaudt of the national plaintiffs` law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann &
Bernstein, LLP announced that Candice Atkinson today filed a personal injury
lawsuit against Bayer Corporation and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
for severe side effects from the prescription birth control drug Yaz,
manufactured and marketed by Bayer. The complaint was filed in the Superior
Court of New Jersey, where Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is located.

Atkinson, age 33 of Rock Hill, South Carolina, charges that Yaz is a dangerous
prescription drug sold without adequate warnings about the risk of serious
injuries. Atkinson further alleges that Bayer improperly advertised and
over-promoted Yaz for uses such as treating acne, knowing that the risks of such
use outweighed any benefits Yaz may have for acne sufferers.

"Bayer promoted Yaz with the slogan `the difference a little chemistry can
make,`" added Mrs. Atkinson. "What Bayer did not disclose was how negative that
difference can be. Yaz gave me life-threatening injuries that have forever
altered my life."

"My dermatologist prescribed me Yaz in March 2008 to treat my acne," stated Ms.
Atkinson. "At the time, I was unaware that Yaz had not been approved by the FDA
to treat skin conditions for women who were not already using it as birth
control, even though Bayer advertised it for preventing or reducing acne."

"Several months later, I developed sharp pains in my left shoulder and had
difficulty breathing," Atkinson continued. "I went to my doctor for an
examination. Testing revealed multiple blood clots in both lungs. I was
hospitalized immediately. Fortunately, the treatments eliminated the blood
clots, but only one month later I was diagnosed with gallstones. I then had to
undergo gall bladder surgery in January 2009. I have suffered months of anxiety
and nausea related to these medical procedures and drugs given to treat the
adverse side effects I developed from taking Yaz."

The complaint charges that Mrs. Atkinson would never have developed blood clots,
been hospitalized, or forced to undergo numerous medical tests, procedures, and
gall bladder surgery if Bayer had properly warned patients of the dangers of
using Yaz solely as acne medication. The complaint alleges that Mrs. Atkinson
never used Yaz for birth control. Instead, as a result of Bayer`s misleading
advertisements to doctors and consumers, her dermatologist gave her Yaz solely
for her acne.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Bayer's Legal Woes Continue...

Paul Kiesel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:07:47 GMT

From BNET:

Bayer faces more than 125 lawsuits over its Yaz contraceptive and new cases are being filed around the country at a rate of up to up to six a day, according to Courthouse News Service.

Download Seagraves v. Bayer here.

The cases all claim the same thing: That the new progesterone ingredient that Bayer used for Yaz causes more dangerous blood clots to form than previous formulations. BNET noted in July that drospirenone allegedly causes a buildup of potassium that slows down the heart rate, allowing clots to form.

A new White Plains, N.Y., case alleges a slightly more detailed theory of causation involving dehydration:

Drospirenone blocks the hormone aldosterone, and can cause dehydration from increased potassium secretion and increased absorption sodium and water.

Studies have reported that the resulting electrolyte imbalance can lead to potentially fatal hyperkalemia arrhythmia and deep-vein thrombosis …

Separately, even though Bayer removed anti-bleeding drug Trasylol from the market in 2007, new lawsuits keep arriving. Three were filed in Wisconsin recently. One alleges that Bayer failed to tell the FDA that a 67,000-patient study showed Trasylol increased the risks of renal failure, heart attack and stroke:

After a 19-member advisory panel studied the matter, it recommended to the FDA that Bayer’s warnings on Trasylol did not need to be strengthened, the complaints say.

But just days after the panel’s recommendation, a professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health contacted the FDA about a 67,000 patient study he helped to perform at Bayer’s request. The study confirmed that Trasylol increased the risk of renal failure, heart attack and stroke, the plaintiffs claim. In addition, it suggests that patients who receive Trasylol are at an increased risk of death, kidney failure and congestive heart failure.

Bayer knew of the study and its results, but failed to disclose the data to the FDA, according to the complaints.

**Also, anyone who has been adversely affected due to taking these prescription drugs should get in touch with Helen Zukin. Ms. Zukin recently retained a client, a young woman, who unfortunately suffered from a stroke, after only taking Ocella (generic version of Yaz) for a month.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Yaz/Yasmin Being Linked to More Deadly Blood Clots

Paul Kiesel — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:15:59 GMT

From The Texas Record:

A pregnant woman claiming her birth control pills are responsible for her blood clot and the death of her unborn baby has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the drug's manufacturer.

Candice Richardson took the oral contraceptive Yaz/Yasmin and, according to her suit, "thereafter suffered blood clotting and related injuries, requiring hospitalization and resulting in the stillbirth of her daughter at 27 weeks of pregnancy."

She alleges that the drugs' manufacturers misrepresented the pills' benefits and concealed their adverse side effects.

Richardson, individually and as representative of the estate of Jane Doe, deceased, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bayer Corp., Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Bayer Healthcare LLC on Sept. 18 in the Beaumont Division of the Eastern District of Texas.

Richardson states she was prescribed the oral contraceptive Yaz/Yasmin. The drugs are a contraceptive that contains an estrogen component and a progestin component. Together the components suppress ovulation, fertilization and implantation. Yaz is a lower-dose version of Yasmin.

The suit does not indicate when or for how long Richardson used the pill, or which specific product she took.

Studies have shown that women who take birth control pills containing estrogen may be at a higher risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.

The drugs at issue contain the estrogen component ethinyl estradiol, which is used in lower dosage birth control and is reported to have a lower risk of blood clots.

Yaz and Yasmin are the only birth control pills marketed United States containing drospirenone as the progestin component.

According to the complaint, the drug can cause a possible increase in potassium, causing a condition called hyperkalemia. The plaintiff states that hyperkalemia can cause heart rhythm disturbances and blood clots.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Swiss Health Regulator Investigating Bayer as Another Yaz Consumer Dies

Paul Kiesel — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:27:29 GMT

This is unfortunately becoming a trend amongst young women who use these type of products from Bayer.

From Bloomberg:

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Bayer AG, Germany’s largest drugmaker, said its Yaz contraceptive is part of an investigation by a Swiss health regulator into the death of a young woman who took the pill.

The Swissmedic agency and an investigative judge are looking into the case of the woman, who died from the effects of pulmonary embolism, Bayer’s Swiss health unit said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday. Bayer is cooperating with the authorities, the company said.

“A singular case, as tragic and sad as it is, does not indicate an increased risk for the whole group of women who take the pill,” Oliver Renner, a Berlin-based spokesman for Bayer, said in an interview today. “Studies have shown that the risk isn’t higher for Yaz than for other oral contraceptives.”

Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer’s Yasmin, Yaz and Yasminelle contraceptives brought in $1.86 billion for Bayer in the first quarter, and Yasmin and Yaz are the two biggest- selling contraceptives worldwide, according to IMS Health Inc., a Norwalk, Connecticut-based market research company.

Bayer will also probe the matter, said Renner. In a case like that, the company routinely conducts its own investigation, he added.

The regulator was alerted to the “sudden” death of the woman, who had been taking the contraceptive for ten months, Swissmedic said on its Web site. Thromboembolic complications are well known yet rare side-effects of hormone-based contraceptives and the risk is also increased during pregnancy, the agency said.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

FDA to Bayer: Quit Overstating the Efficacy of Yaz and Misleading Consumers

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:17:20 GMT

Below is the beginning of a letter, written in late-2008, to the President & Chief Executive Officer of Bayer, Reinhard Franzen, from the FDA. It warns Bayer that its TV ads for Yaz are misleading and misbrand the drug, which is in direct violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and that the ads undermine the FDA's ability to implement regulations. However, Bayer has chosen to ignore the FDA's warning, and, since this letter was written, many users of the drug maker's Yaz and similar birth control products have experienced serious-to-life threatening side effects.

"Warning Letter" to Bayer:

Dear Mr. Franzen,

The Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC) has reviewed two 60-second direct-to-consumer (DTC) broadcast television advertisements (TV Ads) entitled "Not Gonna Take It" and "Balloons" for Yaz (drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol) Tablets. The TV Ads are misleading because they broaden the drug's indication, overstate the efficacy of Yaz, and minimize serious risks associated with the use of the drug. Thus, the TV Ads misbrand the drug in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), 21 U.S.C. 352(n), 352(f)(1) & 321(n), and FDA's implementing regulations. These violations are concerning from a public health prospective because they encourage use of Yaz in circumstances other than those in which the drug has been approved, over-promise the benefits and minimize the risks associated with Yaz [. . .]

Click here for the rest of the letter.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel

Metrolink Settles Most Cases from 2005 Glendale Train Crash

Paul Kiesel — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:33:29 GMT

From the Los Angeles Times:

After years of legal wrangling, Metrolink has settled most of the outstanding lawsuits arising from the 2005 Glendale crash that killed 11 people and injured about 180, the second-deadliest in Metrolink’s history, attorneys said.

Metrolink has agreed to pay $30 million to settle the majority of the approximately 150 claims and lawsuits filed against Metrolink, according to the lead plaintiff's attorney.

The remaining cases are expected to be resolved in the next month, plaintiffs’ attorneys said.

Any cases that are not settled are scheduled to go to trial in January.

Metrolink could not immediately be reached for comment.

A claims report in a July agenda for Metrolink’s board said it would be paying $3,901,500 in seven recently resolved lawsuits. Most of the cases involving serious injuries and fatalities were settled in a flurry of mediation talks in the last six months, attorneys said.

Plaintiffs' attorneys said Metrolink showed little interest in settling the larger cases until this April, more than four years after the Jan. 26, 2005, incident, which was the most severe in its history until last year’s Chatsworth crash.

“There was a sea change in attitude,” said Jerry Ringler, the lead plaintiff’s attorney, said in a recent interview. “I think we developed liability theories that were extremely powerful.”

In the 2005 crash, a Compton laborer parked his Jeep Grand Cherokee on the tracks and doused the interior with gasoline in what he later claimed was a suicide attempt.

A three-car southbound train, which was being pushed by a locomotive, slammed into the car, skidded down the tracks, then derailed. The lead passenger car crashed into an idle freight train, jackknifed and collided into a passenger train going the opposite direction on its way to Burbank.

“Thus far, we believe the Glendale settlements have been fair and reasonable given that Juan Alvarez, who parked his jeep on the Metrolink right-of-way, has been subsequently convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder,” Ringler said in a statement released today.

Click here for the rest of the article.

And click here to read archived blogs related to Metrolink.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Kiesel