Communication key when dealing with a Yaz birth control injury

Filing a lawsuit after you have been injured by the negligence of another person can be daunting; especially at a time when all you want to do is focus on regaining your health.

The lawsuits against Bayer, the maker of Yaz birth control, have been especially tough to deal with. A number of young, previously healthy women are facing serious injuries that no one their age should have to endure. Gallbladder disease, stroke, pulmonary embolisms and strokes have threatened the lives and health of countless women across the U.S. – women who still continue to face health issues and must deal with the financial and emotional aftermath that the Yaz birth control injury has caused.

Many have filed claims against Bayer Corporation, in hopes of recouping the costs associated with these injuries, including medical bills, lost wages, future medical costs as well as pain and suffering. The lawsuits have been consolidated into a Multidistrict Litigation, or “MDL,” in the U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of Illinois U.S. District Court with Judge David R. Herndon presiding over the cases.

As with any lawsuit, one of the key ways to help you stay informed about what is going on in your case is to openly communicate with your attorney. Lawyers involved in multidistrict litigation are up against mass amounts of paperwork, strict deadlines and judges’ orders, and most strive to provide excellent customer service to their clients.

At Zoll, Kranz and Borgess, one of the ways we strive to do provide exceptional service is through this blog on Yaz birth control, in order to provide both clients and the community with information on adverse side effects from the drug, updates on the MDL, orders made by Judge Herndon, and more.

In addition to frequently checking back to this site, women who have lawsuits filed against Bayer are encouraged to contact their attorney any time there is a life change that may be pertinent to your case. Good times to check in with your lawyer include:

- Anytime you move or change your phone number

- If your name changes due to marriage or divorce

- After the birth of a child

- After any developments in your medical treatment

- If you have any questions pertaining to your claim

If you have not filed a claim against Bayer Corporation, but suffered serious, life-threatening injuries while taking Yaz, contact Zoll, Kranz and Borgess for more information by 888.841.9623 toll-free or via email at anneke@toledolaw.com.

Handling financial stress after a Yaz birth control injury | Yaz injury lawsuits

While it may seem obvious that injuries from defective products have severe and long-term implications to one’s physical health, what is often not as readily apparent is the disastrous negative effect that these injuries can have on a person’s financial and fiscal well-being.

It is especially difficult for the young women who have suffered serious injury while taking Yaz birth control. Many of the women are in their early 20’s, and working one or more jobs while trying to earn a college degree.

Unfortunately, the gallbladder removals, blot clots, strokes and pulmonary embolisms that have resulted from taking Yaz are leaving the women unable to work and incapable of attending classes.

But bill collectors won’t wait, and they often do not consider a medical condition as a reason not to pay debts, so the women are left facing defaulted student loans and constant calls from creditors, along with a long-term negative impact on their credit score, liens, lawsuits and judgments.

The insurmountable debt paired with the inability to return to work has many women seeing red for more than one reason. Anger at the fact that the medical condition was caused by the negligence of Bayer Corporation in failing to disclose the health risks of taking Yaz, as well as frustration of having to struggle with finances at a time when she should be focusing on recovering her health can cause additional, unneeded stress.

That is why Zoll, Kranz and Borgess want to provide women affected by Yaz with a series of blogs on how to handle the financial stress of an injury resulting from the birth control.

Check back frequently for tips on staying organized and keeping open lines of communication with your doctors and attorney. We will also discuss how to recognize the disadvantages of working with companies who may offer a settlement advance, and what the fine print really means. For more information on injuries caused by Yaz, contact Zoll, Kranz and Borgess toll-free at 888.841.9623, via email at Anneke@toledolaw.com or by visiting our Yaz injury website.

Misleading Yaz TV ads should have never been allowed to air

As advocates for drug safety who have seen firsthand how false advertising led to the injuries caused by Yaz birth control and affected the lives of hundreds of young women, we couldn’t agree more with a recent article by the Huffington Post.

This important article makes a plea to the mega pharmaceutical companies, urging them to take down the flashy, misleading prescription drug commercials without first making sure that the product is safe and effective.

“Regulators must do more than pull spots and mandate corrections when pharmaceutical ads are determined to be inaccurate -- at that point the damage is done,” Author Jerrold Parker writes. “Instead the FDA must tighten regulations on pharmaceutical ads, monitoring accuracy as well as tone, before they're ever approved. It could literally save lives.”

And while we applaud the FDA for regulating misleading ads and requiring them to be removed from the air, the article raises a good point – the ads should have never been there in the first place.

Take for instance the catchy, but deceptive TV ads that Bayer produced to promote their birth control pills, Yaz and Yasmin. Yasmin and YAZ are the first types of birth control to contain a different kind of hormone, called DRSP or drospirenone .

In putting the interest of corporate profits over public safety, Bayer’s advertisements focused almost exclusively on the positive affects of its newest drug creation, while continually omitting or minimizing the very significant risks associated with or increased by the novel birth control pill. These major risks include:

Blood clots

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

Pulmonary embolism (PE)

Strokes

Gallbladder disease

Other serious injuries and sudden death

These life-threatening risks include, but are not limited to, those risks that Bayer knew or should have known are associated with or increased by the unprecedented use of this new hormone. Bayer’s ads also improperly encouraged the use of Yasmin/YAZ/Ocella in circumstances other than those in which the drug has been approved and over-stated its benefits.

For example, the ads were targeted at women who suffered from PMS – yet Yaz was not approved to treat PMS. As a result of the fraudulent ads, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) repeatedly reprimanded Bayer for marketing the drug in a way that minimizes these very serious side effects, thereby misleading millions of women and their prescribing physicians about the safety of this new type of birth control.

While the advertisement helped generate more than $616 million in sales for the drug company, it came at a great cost to the American public. Thousands of women, many who asked their doctors for a prescription after seeing the ads, have died or have suffered severe, debilitating injuries because of Yaz and Yasmin.

For more information contact Anneke Kurt toll-free at 888.841.9623, via email at Anneke@toledolaw.com or by visiting our Yaz injury website.