LANDMARK CONTRACEPTIVE RULING DUE IN JULY

LONDON, England, June 11, 2002, (LSN.ca) – The High Court judge in a three-month trial of 100 women who claim they were damaged by the third-generation contraceptive pill says he will rule on the case by the end of July.  During the case, the women’s lawyer said some of his clients were moderately damaged, but that others had suffered “disastrous” injury and lifelong incapacity. Some, he said, died because the pills they received were defective, carrying an increased risk of venous thrombosis embolism (VTE) when compared with the previous generation of the pill.  The three manufacturers who stand accused of failing to warn doctors and customers of this risk, Organon Laboratories, Wyeth, and Schering Healthcare, argued that crucial evidence was flawed by what lawyers call “bias or confounding.” They claim that factors such as the women’s ages and the fact they were “new users” explain the effects they suffered.  The case is the first of its kind under Britain’s Consumer Protection Act. If successful, it could lead to massive compensation payouts to the women and their families, according to BBC News. The BBC did not point out that the trial also casts a shadow over the contraceptive culture that treated the women as guinea pigs.  For BBC News coverage see: https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_2038000/2038340.stm