Ortho Evra
November 6, 2006Ortho Evra lawsuit filed in New Jersey against manufacturer
A Ortho Evra lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a 26-year-old Kentucky woman against Ortho-McNeil, maker of the popular but controversial Ortho Evra birth control patch. It was filed last week in a court in Middlesex County, New Jersey.
In October 2003, the woman, experiencing shortness of breath, went to the emergency room at King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Kentucky. When tests showed that the woman had suffered several pulmonary emboli, she was admitted and treated with anticoagulants.
The injured woman’s doctors predict that she will have to stay on anticoagulants for a long time—possibly for the rest of her life. This condition, which the suit attributes to her nine-month use of the Ortho Evra birth control patch, may also prevent her from using hormone replacement therapy in the future.
The Ortho Evra patch was released by Ortho-McNeil (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) in 2002 as an alternative to its Ortho Cyclen line of birth control pills. Ortho Evra contains a similar form of hormonal birth control similar to that of Ortho Cyclen and is highly popular among consumers for its convenience. Unlike daily birth control pills, the Ortho Evra patch just needs to be applied once per week.
However, it became apparent after the release of Ortho Evra that there was a much higher risk of birth control patch side effects than with birth control pills. The estrogen in the Ortho Evra patch passes directly into the bloodstream—rather than through the stomach and liver, as with the pill—so wearers receive a 60% higher dose than with birth control pills.
Because estrogen increases blood clotting, this increased hormone dose can cause a host of Ortho Evra side effects, including pulmonary emboli, like those suffered by the Kentucky woman. Studies have shown that wearers of the Ortho Evra patch face a risk of death three times higher compared with those who take birth control pills. Other studies have found that Ortho Evra users have four times the number of strokes and other birth control patch side effects than those taking the pill.
So far, at least 23 women have died from using Ortho Evra. Several hundred more—including the woman on whose behalf the suit was filed—have suffered birth control patch injuries. Many have filed Ortho Evra lawsuits against Ortho-McNeil, alleging that the company knew or should have known about the health risks posed by Ortho Evra and that more should have been done to inform women using the patch.