Yaz Side Effects Affect Women Everywhere

Yaz side effects first came under public scrutiny in 2009, when lawsuits began to be filed against the Bayer Corporation by women who had experienced some of the severe side effects of the birth control pills – gallbladder disease, pulmonary embolism, heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. Some of these conditions have proved fatal, and it is estimated that at least 50 women have died from Yaz side effects in the United States since the pills were first introduced.
Lawsuits are also taking place in Canada, where Yaz and a similar product, Yasmin, were approved for the Canadian market in 2008. Both are considered fourth-generation birth control pills, because the synthetic hormone they contain – drospirenone – is different from the synthetic hormone in most other hormone-based birth control systems. Lawsuits in both the United States and Canada have been consolidated either into class action or multidistrict litigation lawsuits, with the United States’ multidistrict litigation suit taking place in the Southern District Court of Illinois. This will streamline the legal process and hopefully net plaintiffs a quicker settlement.
Plaintiffs are filing suit against Bayer for various reasons, but most lawsuits have one thing in common – they claim that the medication did not come with adequate warnings that outlined the true possible risks involved with taking it. Bayer failed to warn potential consumers, and even doctors, that the risks involved in this fourth-generation birth control were different and potentially more serious than those associated with other forms of hormonal birth control. As side effects of the medication continue to come to light, more and more women are likely to file suit against Bayer Pharmaceuticals in courts both in Canada and the United States. The total number is yet to be seen – Yaz and Yasmin were prescribed to about 2 million patients in the United States and Canada alone.