What Can I Do if My Doctor Wrote Me a Birth Control Prescription That Made Me Seriously Ill?

 Posted on May 20, 2022 in Product Liability

For most women in Illinois, the invention and widespread availability of birth control have made it much easier to make safe, informed decisions about when to start a family. For other women, birth control has meant finally being able to control painful, unpredictable menstruation cycles.

While birth control is well understood and its risks are low, it is not without risks altogether. Many women who use birth control have suffered from serious and even life-threatening health conditions, including heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms. If you started taking birth control and experienced an adverse health condition, you may want to speak with an Illinois birth control injuries lawyer. 

How Does Birth Control Work? 

Different birth control works in different ways. Birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives contain a small amount of human estrogen and progestin hormones. These hormones prevent a woman’s body from ovulating and also change the consistency of the cervical mucus so sperm cannot reach an egg as easily. Non-hormonal methods, such as a copper IUD, change the way sperm cells move so they cannot reach an egg to fertilize it. 

Birth Control Can Cause Serious Injuries 

Certain risk factors can make hormonal birth control unsafe for women, such as smoking, blood pressure problems, liver disease, and migraines. Doctors are responsible for understanding a patient’s health history and whether birth control could potentially harm someone. Inappropriately prescribing hormonal birth control to at-risk patients can cause serious injuries, including, but are not limited to: 

• Blood clots, especially in the legs
• Heart attacks and strokes
• High blood pressure 
• Deep vein thrombosis
• Liver disorders 
• Gallbladder disease

Non-hormonal birth control can also cause a patient serious injuries. For example, many T-shaped intrauterine devices (IUDs) use a small amount of copper to prevent sperm from reaching an egg. However, when the IUD is removed, the arms of an IUD can break off and become lodged in a patient’s uterine lining. An IUD can also migrate from its original location and become embedded in other tissues, causing extreme pain and serious organ damage. In a case involving a defective medical product, the responsible party may be the company that designed the product, the company that manufactured the product, or the healthcare provider responsible for inserting or removing the product. 

Contact a Winnebago County Birth Control Injury Lawyer

If you or someone you love have suffered an injury from a birth control prescription, consider meeting with an experienced Rockford, IL medication injuries attorney with Mannarino & Brasfield, A Division of Schwartz Injury Law. You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries, including your medical expenses, loss of life quality, pain and suffering, and more. Contact us today at 815-215-7561 to schedule a free, no-risk consultation to learn more about how we may be able to help. 

Source: 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/combination-birth-control-pills/about/pac-20385282