Yasmin

On September 24, 2010, an 18-year-old collapsed on her way into a classroom at Elon University in Pennsylvania. Just a few hours later, the young woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Michelle Pfleger was taking Yaz as a way to treat her acne. Her mother says it was the birth control pill that finally led to Pfleger’s death, a Pendulum article reports.

We may never be 100 percent certain just how many women have died from conditions related to the effects of Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella. While it may prove impossible to gauge a precise figure, at least 50 out of 4,000 plaintiffs are families that have suffered the loss of their mother, sister, or daughter after having been prescribed one of Bayer’s popular birth control pills.

Thousands of Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella lawsuits are pending against the pharmaceutical company Bayer. With all the negative attention the company has received over their birth control product line, Bayer has yet to cease its contraceptive production and marketing.

Instead, Bayer has taken the same controversial ingredients used in Yaz and Yasmin, added folic acid, packaged them in a new container with a new name, and released them to the U.S. market with immediate FDA approval. The new pill, Beyaz, was released in October 2010 in U.S. and international markets.

News coverage of the more than 4,000 lawsuits filed against Bayer HealthCare remains scant at best. A few news outlets have covered various details about the substantial health risks incurred by young women who take Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella and other generic replicas of the popular birth control pills. Recent coverage of Bayer consists of reports of 3rd quarter earnings.