Posted on 01/23/2016 8:05:40 PM PST by kathsua
British court officials are investigating the death of a young teen who died on vacation last fall after developing a rare blood clot disorder from a birth control pill.
The Daily Mail reports 16-year-old Sophie Murray was rushed to the hospital on Nov. 8, 2015, after her lips turned blue and she became breathless in the middle of the night. Murray died later that day from a pulmonary embolism due to deep vein thrombosis, according to the report. Doctors said the birth control prescription that she was taking contributed to her death.
The news report has more about the inquest into her death:
[Dr. Richard Prescott] told the hearing that the ‘large clot’ was 8mm in diameter and if it had been detected earlier she could have been given blood thinners and survived.
The inquest heard how Sophie was using the ‘common’ pill Microgynon and a leaflet accompanying the prescription warned how using it ‘increases the risk of developing a blood clot’ and in ‘very rare cases’ a blood clot can form but it is ‘very rarely fatal’.
Joanne Birch, a specialist nurse in sudden and unexpected deaths, said only six out of every 10,000 women on the contraceptive pill develop DVT, compared to only two in 10,000 without the pill, and that fatalities are ‘extremely rare’.
[Sophie’s mother Shelley] Crichton told the hearing how Sophie’s breathing had become worse since returning from holiday and she was struggling to walk to school, dance or enjoy exercise DVDs and complained her body was ‘aching’.
Crichton said she took her daughter to the doctor, where they ran tests and prescribed her an inhaler, but it didn’t help. Three days before her death, the teen went back to her doctor, who prescribed a different inhaler and medication, the report states.
Her doctor, Paramundayil Joseph, told the inquest that Sophie did not have the usual indicators of a pulmonary embolism: She was young, not overweight or a smoker and did not have any family history of the illness. He also said that trouble breathing can be a sign of many different diseases.
Her tragic death follows on the heels of a case involving another young British woman who died last year of very similar circumstances. Fallan Kurek, 21, died in May 2015 from a pulmonary embolism on her lung that was caused, in part, by her birth control medication, according to The Telegraph.
The report states Kurek also consulted a nurse about the chest pains and breathing trouble that she was experiencing, but the nurse reportedly told her that “it wasn’t the pill.â€
In May, Kurek reportedly passed out on the stairs at her home after vomiting and struggling to breathe. After three days at the hospital in intensive care, Kurek died, according to the report.
Artificial contraception is an issue that pro-lifers take varying positions on. Some argue that birth control can help reduce abortion rates by preventing unwanted pregnancies, while others argue that it leads down a slippery slope to abortion. No matter what their position on birth control, pro-lifers agree that even one innocent life lost is one too many.
All meds have possible negative affects. The precautionary principle would have us living in caves in the dark.
In any TV ad for a prescription medication, the possible side effects take up 70% of the ad time.... and in the end you realize that any medication can have virtually any side effect... and every viewer promptly forgets them all!
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
"This medicine, like all medicines, has side effects. It may kill you... but if you suffer from ____(fill in the blank) _______, give it a try anyway."
I guess they figure, like vaccines, a certain percentage will have different reactions/symptoms and die.
Several people I knew had various problems with it. They say it is safer now. Maybe statistically it is; I don't know.
I also believe that is why we have so much breast cancer, increased levels of estrogen !
So tell me, why is a 16-year-old “virgin?” girl taking birth control pills? What was her motive? Is that a bit too young? Was she counseled to do this and by whom? And who would that partner be? Are we not allowed to know the answers? Sorry to be so politically incorrect, it makes rabid RATS go ballistic, hope they land on Jupiter.
Yes, I agree with you. Abortions also are known to cause some of it. We don’t know how many or what hormones we are getting in our meat. I eat it anyway but not nearly as much as I once did.
It can be prescribed for acne.
Perhaps not a good use, but some doctors will recommend it.
And the attorneys are licking their lips......
Fine, you missed the rest of the post, but you knew that.
As a nurse I can tell you that blood clots due to birth control pills are more common than the drug companies report.
But women can die due to birth control pills and they just keep cranking them out.
Ribbed or plain?
You can take a lower prophylactic dose of clindamycin for severe acne.
No, it was some sort of pill.
Not caves, coffins.
Everybody knows the risks except the young who take them.
Sex is worth it mom.
well I doubt we would be allowed to make coffins.. splinters and global warming etc....
Yes, that is why when they are having clear symptoms of the risk disease, they go to their doctor expecting him to determine what is wrong. If a medication-caused illness is “rare” that does not excuse the medical profession from properly diagnosing and treating it, especially now when diagnostics is fairly easy, in a case like this one. Criminal medical negligence. It’s ridiculous to blame the poor child victim.
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