A recently filed NuvaRing lawsuit blames the contraceptive for a woman’s DVT, also known as deep vein thrombosis. The lawsuit seeks $10 million in damages and is just one of many NuvaRing lawsuits on which we’ve written. Dawn Kregel, of Denton, Texas, filed the lawsuit against NuvaRing makers Organon USA Inc., Organon Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., […]
A recently filed NuvaRing lawsuit blames the contraceptive for a woman’s DVT, also known as deep vein thrombosis. The lawsuit seeks $10 million in damages and is just one of many NuvaRing lawsuits on which we’ve written.
Dawn Kregel, of Denton, Texas, filed the lawsuit against NuvaRing makers Organon USA Inc., Organon Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., Organon International Inc., Schering-Plough Corp., and Merck & Co. Inc. after she allegedly suffered a DVT shortly after using the device, said The Southeast Texas Record.
According to Kregel, she used the monthly birth control device for a little over one month in 2010 and was subsequently diagnosed with a DVT, which she alleges was the result of the NuvaRing device, said The Southeast Texas Record. The lawsuit was filed on January 9 in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.
NuvaRing is a transparent, flexible vaginal ring that provides month-long birth control by emitting a continuous dose of estrogen and progestin for 21 days. The device releases a combination of ethinyl estradiol, a form of the hormone estrogen, and etonogestral. NuvaRing is marketed as providing the same efficacy as birth control pills but with the convenience of month-long protection.
Kregel claims that the defendants neglected to warn that NuvaRing was linked to more thrombotic events than the pill and accused the defendants of marketing, promoting, and advertising NuvaRing as having a relatively low level of estrogen in order to mask the fact that it had a high level of dangerous third-generation progestin. Had she been aware of the increased risks connected to NuvaRing, Kregel’s lawsuit alleges that she would have used a different form of birth control, wrote The Southeast Texas Record.
Other NuvaRing lawsuits claim the birth control device caused the sudden deaths of users. For instance, in June 2010, we reported on a lawsuit that was initiated by the estate of a woman who died using the contraceptive, claiming her use of NuvaRing led to a fatal blood clot. That lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Omaha on behalf of Ann Tompkins (43), a mother of two who died after using NuvaRing for five months. That lawsuit sought damages from several pharmaceutical firms that sold or manufactured the contraceptive at one time.
A family friend found Ann dead in her home; the autopsy revealed her cause of death was a blood clot in one of her lungs. The lawsuit accuses NuvaRing’s makers of over-promoting NuvaRing but not appropriately warning about the blood clot risk, among other issues.
Typically, NuvaRing lawsuits allege that because the device delivers a constant stream of hormone unmediated by the digestive system or the liver, patients end up receiving higher doses than they do from older pills. Of note, high estrogen doses create a greater risk of blood clots, which can be fatal.
Hundreds of similar NuvaRing lawsuits are currently pending in a multidistrict litigation in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri.