Pregnant US Women Sue Pharmaceutical Companies Over Mislabeled Birth Control Pills

Four pharmaceutical companies in United States sold birth control pills in packaging that mistakenly reversed the order in which they were to be taken, rendering them ineffective. More than 100 women who became pregnant after taking these mislabeled birth control pills have filed suit last week in Philadelphia, seeking millions of dollars in damages and interest, revealed their lawyer. The complaint charges that the packaging error left the women without adequate compensation and at risk for unwanted pregnancy. Some of the women are demanding that the pharmaceutical companies cover the total cost of their child's education through age 18 years, as well as medical expenses, lost salaries and pain and suffering resulting from the unintended pregnancies.

Damages sought by most of these women, however, are limited by their home states's laws to medical expenses, lost salaries and pain and suffering. Their lawyer Keith Bodoh said, "Of the women involved in the case, 93 gave birth, 17 did not carry their pregnancies to term, and two others never became pregnant." The four companies named in the suit are Vintage, Qualitest, Endo and Canadian-based Pantheon which sold the birth pills under eight different brand names.

The US Food and Drug Administration in September 2011, voluntarily recalled multiple lots of the pills citing the packaging error and warning it could leave women at risk for an unwanted pregnancy. Initially, the group had sought class action status for the suit, but when the request was denied by a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia their lawyers opted to file suit in Endo's home base- Philadelphia.

Source-AFP