Posted on 07/15/2005 7:42:17 PM PDT by topher
Birth Control Patch Claims 23 Lives and Counting
NEW YORK, July 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Federal drug safety reports obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request, "indicate that in 2004 -- when 800,000 women were on the patch -- the risk of dying or suffering a survivable blood clot while using the device was about three times higher than while using birth control pills."
AP points out that the majority of the women were young and in otherwise good health and at low risk for blood clots - "women like Zakiya Kennedy, an 18-year-old Manhattan fashion student who collapsed and died in a New York subway station last April," the AP relates. "Or Sasha Webber, a 25-year-old mother of two from Baychester, N.Y., who died of a heart attack after six weeks on the patch last March."
Some doctors who reviwed the Food and Drug Administration reports "were alarmed," according to the report. "I was shocked," said Dr. Alan DeCherney, editor-in-chief of Fertility and Sterility and a UCLA professor of obstetrics and gynecology."
The patch's manufacturer, Ortho McNeil, claimed that one death attributed to the patch should not be counted because it occurred in a woman who had undergone surgery. "But an FDA reviewer, using capital letters and underscoring his comments, took issue with Ortho McNeil," the AP report continued.
"THE REVIEWER DOES NOT AGREE WITH THE SPONSOR'S ABOVE CONCLUSIONS," the reviewer's report warns. "The two cases of pulmonary embolus, a serious and potentially fatal condition, must be counted as two cases . . . The incidence rates quoted by the sponsor may be misleading." The reviewer added, "The label should clearly reflect this reviewer's safety concern about a potential increased risk."
The AP reviewed 16,000 files related to patch-related effects. "These ranged from mild rashes to deaths, and there were many duplicate reports," they said. "Within this collection of reports, the AP found 23 different deaths associated with the patch. The primary cause of death in those reports isn't always clear -- some mention suicide, others abortion. Doctors who reviewed the 23 cases found about 17 that appeared to be clot-related, including 12 from last year."
See the AP report: http://wusatv9.com/health/health_article.aspx?stor...
tv
Anybody know why LifeNEWS.com is down? LifeSite.Net is where this article came from... The DNS on the web does not resolve the name (doing an Internet Ping will show the IP Address, even if the ping is not successful...)
Does the patch deliver the same amount of drug no matter the size, weight, age, etc. of the woman? Or is it set up to take all that into account? Anyone?
Here's another thread I posted last night from the AP article.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1443214/posts
well i guess the patch worked a little to good....instead of just preventing life it took it
She was among about a dozen women, most in their late teens and early 20s, who died last year from blood clots believed to be related to the birth control patch. Dozens more survived strokes and other clot-related problems, according to federal drug safety reports obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Several lawsuits have already been filed by families of women who died or suffered blood clots while using the patch, and lawyers said more are planned.
I must be getting senile...
Well maybe the women should stop eating salads (lettuce helps clot the blood), and then when they get fat, they won't have sex...
The search here does that from time to time, no big deal.
Several lawsuits have already been filed by families of women who died or suffered blood clots while using the patch, and lawyers said more are planned.
I'm curious, since it clearly states the risks before a person can take it that it can cause blood clots, etc. Where do they even stand in court?
You think people would figure out that sex is best done naturally, in the context of the safety net of marriage..
Oh well, I guess people like these dead young women knew better.
The Patch delivers a consistent, steady amount of the hormones regardless of the make up of the woman (weight, age, etc.)for 3 weeks out of a womans monthly cycle. It's not like some of the newer combo pills where you can adjust the level of estrogen.
You forget that a woman spilled coffee from McDonald's on her, and was able to sue McDonald's (successfully) because the coffee was hot and burned her.
If some idiot jury can give such an award in the McDonald's case, then those cashing in the deaths of these women stand a good chance.
For Moral America, it is a win-win situation -- the company could go bankrupt and young women may be afraid to wear the patch. It might help to make the women think twice about hoppin in bed all the time just to have sex and pick up diseases.
later pingout.
Oh well, I guess people like these dead young women knew better.
Umm exactly how many of these dead women were not in the "safety net" of marriage?
>>Umm exactly how many of these dead women were not in the "safety net" of marriage?
sex is best done naturally, not with birth control..
Our "medical" system has convinced millions that drugs are A-OK......and birth control pills ARE just another LEGAL drug....if more MEN would also take RESPONSIBILITY for THEMSELVES.....maybe "natural birth control" would be possible.
Thanks.....I'm looking into Hormones (bioidentical, cream based, put together by a compounding pharmacy) and was wondering.
That's about 2.9 deaths per 100,000. Anyone know what the death rate from childbirth is? Just wondering.
>>That's about 2.9 deaths per 100,000. Anyone know what the death rate from childbirth is? Just wondering.
Anybody know what the death rate from not having sex is? I'm reasonably sure many of these young women were unmarried....
These were needless deaths, attributable to the culture of birth control...
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