Ortho Evra
April 10, 2006Ex-actress filing Ortho Evra birth control patch lawsuit
More than 12 million people use adhesive patches that deliver medication through the skin. But the transdermal patches, ever so convenient, have serious side effects that range from blood clots to death.Take, for example, Debra Roinestad, 37, a one-time actress on Saturday Night Live and Hofstra University grad student. She blames her present health woes directly on her use of the Ortho Evra birth control patch made by Ortho-McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
In September 2005, Roinestad and her husband, Kurt, had just dined at a restaurant. As they returned to their home in Sound Beach, New Jersey, Roinestad felt a sensation she likened to “a ton of elephants crushing my chest.”
Roinestad’s husband rushed her to a nearby hospital. The doctors there told her that blood clots had filled her lungs and she was in danger of death. Roinestad said her doctors blamed the clots on her use of the Ortho Evra birth control patch.
Medication administered at the hospital treated the clots but she still experiences severe fatigue. Roinestad can no longer work, has trouble breathing and has given up her studies.
Roinestad is suing Ortho-McNeil; her case, alleging that Ortho Evra almost killed her, is one of hundreds of lawsuits filed by women across the country against the company for injuries they say resulted from using the Ortho Evra birth control patch.