FALMOUTH, NS – A Nova Scotia mother, who believes a popular brand of birth control pill was a factor in her daughter’s death, wants to see the drug pulled off the market.
Leah Fisher’s daughter, Katelynne, died in Jan. 2011 –one month after being prescribed Yaz.
The otherwise healthy 18-year-old went to the emergency room with what she believed were symptoms of a stroke.
By the time doctors found the large blood clot in her brain, she had suffered a seizure and never regained consciousness, she told Global News.
“They did a surgery and tried to break up the clot and it was just impossible to break up,” Fisher said. “It was too massive.”
Katelynne died eight days later. Doctors told the family their daughter had no other risk factor except her birth control pill.
Health Canada documents have revealed at least 23 Canadian women have died while taking the commonly-prescribed Yaz and Yasmin.
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Read more: Yaz, Yasmin birth control pills linked to deaths of 23 Canadian women
But, Fisher doesn’t want her daughter to be a statistic.
“You see someone with so much potential,” she said through tears.
“She’ll never be a mom. She’ll never walk down the aisle. That part’s very hard and that’s the part that makes her human, and not a statistic,” she said.
The teen’s family has since joined a class action lawsuit against Bayer, the makers of Yaz and Yasmin. The suit, launched by London Ont.-based law firm Siskinds LLP, alleges women were kept in the dark about the increased risk of blood clots, stroke, heart attack, gallbladder disease and other medical conditions, compared to women taking other birth control pills.
Bayer maintains its product is safe.
A 2011 Health Canada review found women taking Yaz and Yasmin were 1.5 to three times more likely to develop blood clots than women taking other oral contraceptives.
Recent reports have many women thinking twice about their brand of oral contraceptive.
Halifax pharmacist Darren Dileo said a few women have already come in with questions.
“If an individual is concerned that they have a higher risk, certainly they can speak to their physician to change to another product,” he said.
Fisher only wishes her family had known the risks before her daughter was prescribed the drug.
“It’s just changed our lives forever,” she said.
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