Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
Eleven women from states throughout the U.S. filed a defective drugs lawsuit last week in a Los Angeles Court against Johnson & Johnson and two other companies who made, marketed and distributed the prescribed Ortho Evra birth control patch. Specifically, these women claim that the defendants waited four years after this product’s release to disclose some serious side effects of using Ortho Evra, including blood clots and strokes. All eleven women, ranging from ages 19 to 42, experienced blood clots after using Ortho Evra. Six of the women suffered a pulmonary embolism, while one woman experienced a stroke. The eleven women claiming personal injuries from this product are from California, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, New York, Georgia and Indiana.
The personal injury attorneys of the women claim that the defendants have described Ortho Evra side effects for years as merely including minor symptoms like nausea, headaches and a skin reaction where the patch is placed. They further allege that the defendants downplayed the risks of Ortho Evra, especially the assertion that the product delivers nearly 60 percent more estrogen than oral birth control tablets and consequently increases the risk factors of blood clots and strokes.
More than 4 million women have used Ortho Evra since it became commercially available in 2002. According to the personal injury lawsuit, Ortho Evra is one of the most commonly prescribed birth control patches today and the first and only one marketed as the once-a-week patch. Like oral birth control pills, Ortho Evra prevents pregnancies by preventing ovulation, thickening cervical mucus and altering the endometrium to reduce the likelihood of implantation.
