Product Liability Attorney Blog

Survey: Mothers with Post-partum Depression More Likely to be in Abusive Relationships

Fri, 18 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

A new survey is suggesting that women in abusive relationships are more likely to suffer from post-partum depression. This survey was conducted by researchers questioning women with infants.

"I think intuitively and clinically it's not surprising that there would be an overlap between depression and intimate partner violence," said Dr. Linda Chaudron, a psychiatry professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, who was not involved in the research.

These study results may help doctors with being able to screen women who are showing signs of post-partum depression or of being in violent relationships. It may also help doctors know better if the depression symptoms should be treated with antidepressant medications like Paxil or Effexor, which may not be helpful in this type of situation.

"That is a big message that we want to send, that if pediatricians have started screening for maybe one of these two and they detect one, they should be screening for the other," said Dr. Barry Solomon, a pediatrics professor at John's Hopkins Children's Center, and the lead author of the study.

As to why this research is being conducted, Solomon says, "It's come from growing evidence that mothers who are depressed or are in a relationship with violence, there are negative effects on children."

With depression medications being prescribed more and more every day by doctors, it may make more sense to be able to understand the cause of the depression before deciding which meds are appropriate. It is even more important in cases of severe depression that may be aggravated with SSRI drugs like Paxil and Effexor since both of those drugs are linked to serious side effects (including aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behavior). In a post-partum sufferer, these side effects may be even more likely to occur. For this reason, this type of research may prove to be very beneficial for the women and their children.

Reglan Lawsuit Moved from Judicial District Court to U.S. District Court in Dallas

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

Mary Sue Negron and Larry Negron filed a Reglan lawsuit in December 2010 in the 162^nd Judicial District Court in Dallas, but their case was removed on February 3 of this year. Their case was moved to the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas in Dallas.

The Negron case lists Pliva, the makers of generic version of Reglan, as the primary defendant. The company is accused of failing to properly warn Mrs. Negron of the dangerous side effects linked to the acid reflux drug before she took it. Reglan was approved by the FDA as a treatment for acid reflux disease and GERD; however, the regulators recommend that the drug only be used for short-term treatment, which is a period of no more than 12 weeks. Taking the drug longer than that can cause patients to develop a neurological condition called tardive dyskinesia, which is characterized by patients suffering from Parkinson’s-like symptoms including involuntary movement of the extremities, lip smacking, grimacing and eye twitching.

Negron first began taking metoclopramide in 2006 as a treatment for abdominal pain. She kept taking the drug throughout 2008. It was in 2007 that she started experiencing abdominal movements that she later learned meant was attributed to tardive dyskinesia. Negron is hoping that her Reglan lawsuit will result in her gaining compensation to help her cover her medical expenses and pain and suffering as well as her legal costs. Her case is like many others that claim that the manufacturers failed to properly warn her of the side effects linked to taking Reglan.

Negron’s lawsuit falls on the heels of many others that are all alleging the same thing. Her case is similar to others in that it is hoped that the Supreme Court’s ruling last year won’t affect her lawsuit. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that generic drug makers could not be held liable for failure to warn lawsuits. While this can bring about challenges to some plaintiffs, the ruling does not prevent plaintiffs from achieving awards in their cases, since many plaintiffs are including brand name manufacturers of Reglan in their lawsuits.

Husband, Wife File Levaquin Lawsuit

Mon, 14 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

On April 16, Peter Krieser and his wife, Susan Bieniek, filed a Levaquin lawsuit. Their suit was filed in the same location as the Minnesota MDL, but their case has not joined the MDL. This lawsuit was filed amid claims by Krieser that he suffered from tendon ruptures after taking the controversial antibiotic medication. Krieser’s wife’s claim in the lawsuit is for loss of consortium.

Krieser is claiming that he followed the instructions on his Levaquin prescription, but he still developed a partially ruptured tendon in his right shoulder. His injury took place after his first dose of the drug. In May of 2008, Krieser had an MRI which showed his tendon rupture and tendonitis. By September 10, 2008, Krieser had a second treatment of Levaquin, which caused him to develop leg weakness and pain. He claims that since then, the muscles in his leg have atrophied despite his efforts to correct it with exercise and physical therapy.

Kieser’s lawsuit states that he "has been forced to use a cane when walking outside the house, and due to the weakness in his legs, has suffered numerous falls, from which he has sustained additional injuries and impairments.”

Research has shown that Levaquin causes tendon ruptures and rotator cuff tears, which is why the warnings on the drug’s labels have been updated to include that information. The labels also state that patients aged 65 and older, as well as those patients taking corticosteroids, are at a higher risk of developing tendon ruptures. These side effects have caused many patients to file lawsuits. It is also why the FDA issued a black box warning against the drug. Black box warnings are the strongest warnings the FDA can give. At least one plaintiff, John Schedin, has been awarded almost $2 million in compensation for his injuries, which was upheld on appeal. New plaintiffs continue to file lawsuits in the hopes that they will receive compensation for their Levaquin injuries.

Study: Antidepressants Don't Work in Treating Autistic Kids

Fri, 11 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

According to a new study, a quarter of kids who have autism are being treated with some form of antidepressant medication like Paxil. However, the study suggests that taking those antidepressants won’t actually help them.

The reason that antidepressants like Paxil might get prescribed to an autistic kid is because the drugs are believed to help the kids reduce the episodes of repetitive behaviors that is often characteristic of the condition. This new study was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, who analyzed the results of both previously unpublished and published studies. Those studies focused on treating autistic children with either an antidepressant or a placebo for a period of four weeks.

Once the researchers looked at the results from the published studies alone, it seemed that the antidepressant medications worked — even if only to a small degree. However, when they were viewed against the unpublished studies, those benefits disappeared. This led the researchers to believe that previous study results were determined by a publication bias, which is a term that is used as a reference to the selective publication of publications that focus only on positive results.

"This research made it clear that the effects of SSRI treatment in (autism spectrum disorder) are considerably overrated because of publication bias," wrote the researchers in an article that was published on April 23 in the journal Pediatrics.

With this publication bias occurring, it is no wonder why so many autistic children are being treated with medications that aren’t necessarily working. Considering that antidepressant medications like Paxil have been known to cause more harm than good, this new study may be just the right thing to get some parents to resist giving these medications to their kids. Research has shown that drugs like Paxil can cause patients to suffer from aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. It also causes birth defects in kids exposed to the drug in-utero. Some of the birth defects linked to Paxil and other antidepressants include PPHN, oral clefts and neural tube defects.

Another Study Shows Antidepressants More Harmful Than Beneficial

Wed, 09 May 2012 03:49:13 -0600

Yet another study has been published that has found that antidepressant medications like Paxil are more harmful than beneficial to the patients taking them. This study focused on the drug’s overall effects on the entire body instead of just how it affects the brain.

"We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs," says Paul Andrews, an evolutionary biologist at McMaster University and lead author of the article, published recently in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology. "It's important because millions of people are prescribed antidepressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they're safe and effective."

By studying patients’ reactions to drugs like Paxil (taken from previous studies), the research showed that the risks outweighed the benefits. Some of those risks included early death in senior patients. This information is not new, but most of the studies focused on how the drug affects the brain. This study looked into patients' overall health after taking antidepressants like Paxil.

While it is known that antidepressants cause serious side effects like aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behavior as well as birth defects in babies exposed to the drug in-utero, there are other side effects that can be just as a debilitating. Some of those side effects include digestive disorders, internal bleeding and sexual side effects. These side effects occur often in SSRI medications like Paxil because that drug directly targets the patients' serotonin levels.

"Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It's intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it's going to cause some harm," Andrews says. "The thing that's been missing in the debates about antidepressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects. Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue."

Judge Herndon Extends Stay in Yaz MDL in Illinois… Again

Mon, 07 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

Recently, Judge David R. Herndon, the federal judge who is presiding over the Yaz MDL in Illinois, decided to push back that the deadline for another 90 days so that lawyers can continue with their settlement negotiations.

Herndon granted the stay on April 19, 2012. This is the third time that this MDL has been stayed. Originally, the Yaz lawsuit trial was to begin on January 9, 2012, but two weeks before that start date, Herndon cancelled the trial and told the lawyers on both sides to enter into settlement negotiations instead. In February, Bayer announced that it had reached a settlement agreement with 500 plaintiffs. Each of the plaintiffs claimed that the drug giant failed to properly warn them of the dangers associated with taking Yaz and Yasmin. Some of the conditions that have been linked to the drug include heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease and blood clots that can lead to pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis.

The original settlement agreement Bayer made totaled $110 million and was designed to put an end to 500 Yaz lawsuits that were filed against the company. This is significant considering that the company has steadfastly maintained that Yaz, Yasmin and other drospirenone-based birth control pills are no more dangerous than other birth control pills which don’t contain drospirenone. Drospirenone is a synthetic progestin that is also the primary active ingredient in Yaz. It is likely that Herndon’s decision to stay the more than 11,000 participating lawsuits in the Illinois MDL is a direct result of Bayer’s previous settlement agreement.

So far, the news that the trial dates have been stayed is good news for the plaintiffs involved in the MDL since it gives them hope that they will be compensated for their injuries that were caused by Yaz and Yasmin. From this standpoint, it looks as if Bayer is slowly starting to admit defeat.

Effexor Being Touted as a Way to Cut Migraines in Half

Fri, 04 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

According to a new study, almost 40 percent of migraine sufferers could benefit from taking a daily dose of medications. One of those medications being touted as beneficial is Effexor.

While the average person takes over-the-counter painkillers to treat a migraine, the pills don’t often offer any real relief. Right now, The American Academy of Neurology and the American Headache Society are hoping to help people change that. To this effect, they have published new guidelines in the journal Neurology that offer a recommendation on different therapies that can be used to prevent patients from developing the migraines in the first place.

“If your migraines are severe, there’s hope for you, and the medicines work,” says Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, who believes that the results from hundreds of different studies show that many of these therapies can lower the number of migraines by at least half.

As Effexor is one of the medications that have been touted as a potential preventative medication, what was not included is the side effects that have been linked to the drug. Some of the side effects linked to Effexor include aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behavior as well as birth defects in babies exposed to the drug in-utero. But there are other side effects that can be just as a debilitating, including digestive disorders, internal bleeding and sexual side effects.

With this in mind, Effexor may not be worth taking when you consider the benefits-to-risks ratio. Other medications have been said to help prevent migraines, including epilepsy medications and beta blockers.

Study: Antidepressants Safe for Parkinson’s Patients

Wed, 02 May 2012 04:30:00 -0600

According to a new study, there is some good news for patients who are suffering from both Parkinson’s disease and depression. Research has found that patients with Parkinson’s can take antidepressant medications as a treatment for their depression without causing any complications with their neurological condition.

“Depression is the No. 1 factor negatively affecting the quality of life for people with Parkinson’s disease,” says Irene Hegeman Richard, M.D., who led the study. “It causes a great deal of suffering among patients. The great news here is that it’s treatable. And when the depression is treated adequately, many of the other symptoms become much more manageable for patients.”

While this may sound like good news for depressed Parkinson’s patients, there are some side effects linked to antidepressant medications like Paxil and Effexor that may not be properly considered. Patients have been known to suffer from aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and these drugs like Paxil have also been proven to cause birth defects in babies exposed in-utero. Some of those birth defects include PPHN, neural tube defects, oral clefts and more.

Depression is a common ailment suffered by Parkinson’s patients. However, “it’s very important to note that these patients are not depressed simply because they are dealing with a chronic neurological condition. Rather, the depression is caused by the underlying disease process, which also causes problems with movement and balance," Richard says.

For this study, researchers monitored data taken from 115 participants who had both Parkinson’s disease and depression. One-third of the participants were given Paxil, one-third were given Effexor and another third were given a placebo. The patients given the Paxil showed improvement of a 59 percent, Effexor patients showed 52 percent improvement and the placebo patients showed a 32 percent improvement.

Bayer Paying $110 Million to Settle 500 Yaz Lawsuits

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:30:00 -0600

According to recent information, drug giant Bayer has reached a Yaz lawsuit settlement agreement with 500 plaintiffs in the amount of $110 million. This settlement will mean that the average payout for each plaintiff in the Yaz lawsuits will be $220,000.

Bayer’s decision to settle 500 Yaz lawsuits filed against the company is nothing compared to the 11,000 lawsuits that have been filed in total. Yaz plaintiffs have filed thousands of lawsuits against Bayer after they developed serious conditions after taking Yaz, Yasmin and other drospirenone-based pills. For years, drospirenone-based contraceptives have been linked to serious side effects, including heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease and blood clots that can lead to pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis. Even though Bayer continues to refuse to admit that the pills are more dangerous than older birth control pills that don’t contain drospirenone, that defense may be useless after these settlements have been made.

Insofar as these settlement agreements, Carl Tobias, professor of product liability at the University of Richmond in Virginia, told Bloomberg Business Week, “Sounds to me like mediation is paying off. As a German company, Bayer probably would like to avoid the risks and costs of litigation in U.S. courts. Mediation tends to be a less expensive way to deal with these kinds of cases.”

If these settlements set a precedent in what future plaintiffs can expect, things are going to get very complicated for the drug giant. One thing these settlements do offer to plaintiffs is hope in their own cases. While the $110 million settlement sounds like a lot of money, when broken into the payments per plaintiff, Bayer is getting off easy. Perhaps that is why they made the agreements in the first place. Paying out a mere $220,000 per plaintiff is much better for the company than paying each of them millions.

Forget Paxil: Study Suggests You Can Walk Your Blues Away

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:30:00 -0600

It has been suggested before that regular exercise can be more effective than antidepressants like Paxil in treating depression. Now another study has come along that says the same thing. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Stirling. During their research, the Scottish researchers conducted their study by analyzing 14,672 different articles in an effort to locate eight trials to base their conclusion on.

In the end, the researchers put together data from 341 patients that showed that walking and other exercises had a “large effect” on minimizing the effects of depression. This study was published earlier this month in the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity. There is however, one stipulation to these findings. Even though walking was proven to work in treating depression, more research is still needed. In fact, according to Behind the Headlines, “trials were small, and they varied in the types of people they included, the walking programs they used and what they compared walking to. This limits the strength of the conclusions that can be drawn about the effects of walking in specific groups of people with depression.”

This newest study follows on the heels of previous studies that claim that exercise and a good diet work better curing depression than antidepressants like Paxil. Paxil has been proven repeatedly to cause harmful side effects including aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behavior. Most recently, Paxil and other antidepressants have been proven to cause birth defects in babies whose mothers take the drugs while pregnant. Some of those birth defects include PPHN, neural tube defects, oral clefts and heart, lung and brain defects.

The harmful side effects linked to antidepressant medications have many doctors wondering why bother prescribing them at all. Some experts are even pointing out other research that shows that antidepressants like Paxil don’t work any better than placebos at treating depression. With the safety and efficacy of these drugs constantly being called into question, it is no surprise that many patients have filed lawsuits against the makers of these medications.

Schizophrenic Patients Often Treated with Antidepressants like Paxil

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:30:00 -0600

These days many people are being diagnosed with various different mental disorders. Research currently shows that about 40 percent of patients who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia are being treated with some form of antidepressant medication (Paxil, Effexor) even though there is no real proof that the meds are even effective.

"Using antidepressant medication to treat major depression or primary negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia remains controversial," explain Seth Himelhoch from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. "Two recent meta-analyses have questioned the efficacy of antidepressant treatment targeting depression among those with schizophrenia… (and) some but not all meta-analyses have questioned the efficacy of antidepressants to treat primary negative symptoms."

That particular study showed that of the patient data that was analyzed, “22.2 percent of them had a co-occurring depressive disorder, 12.4 percent had a co-occurring diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 25.4 percent had a co-occurring substance abuse disorder and 6.3 percent had a co-occurring diagnosis of anxiety disorder.”

Basically, as much as 37.4 percent of the patients with schizophrenia were being treated with an antidepressant medication like Paxil.

The study also revealed that 84.5 percent were taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (Paxil, Effexor). Considering that SSRIs have been proven to cause serious side effects — like aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behavior, which are already common behaviors for schizophrenic patients — these meds seem a dangerous mixture for treatment of this disorder. Even though many schizophrenic patients are also suffering from some sort of depressive disorder, these drugs may not be the best solution to treat it since current research is showing that antidepressants are no better at treating depression that placebos. For that reason, it almost seems strange that antidepressants would be used at all. The dangers combined with their lack of proven efficacy just make for a potentially deadly mixture for patients that have enough to contend with.

Will Current Research Put an End to Antidepressant Medication Treatments?

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:30:30 -0600

When the television show “60 Minutes” aired a segment about the efficacy (or lack thereof) of antidepressant medications in treating major depression, some people started wondering what that could mean in regards to how often antidepressants are given to patients. The segment showed that studies are revealing that antidepressants work no better than placebos at curing patients of their depression symptoms.

Even though antidepressants are in the top 10 of medications currently prescribed in the United States, studies have been conducted throughout the past decade that show that the antidepressants like Paxil are not even working. This may cause many people to wonder if that is why they are so popularly prescribed, after all; if the pills aren’t working, it stands to reason that patients will keep taking them in the hopes of changing their current condition.

When it comes to studies over the efficacy of antidepressants like Paxil and Prozac, it is a decade-old study conducted by Dr. Irving Kirsch, Ph.D., and his colleagues that likely got the ball rolling. Since Kirsch’s 1998 study, many others have confirmed that antidepressants like Paxil simply don’t work — at least not in any way that is better than a simple sugar pill. That fact would have many people thinking that if the pills don’t work, it stands to reason that they would stop being prescribed. But that is just not the case. In fact, since Kirsch’s 1998 study, prescriptions for antidepressants like Paxil have increased dramatically. As much as 11 percent of the American population is currently taking some form of antidepressant medication.

Their lack of efficacy isn’t the only problem associated with antidepressant mediations. The drugs’ side effects have also gone under fire as patients have been experiencing aggressive and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Some babies are even being born with various birth defects (PPHN, neural tube defects, oral clefts) when exposed to the drug in-utero.

The fact that these drugs are still being prescribed despite their dangerous side effects and the lack of effectiveness is not even a surprise to Kirsch, who is an associate with the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Harvard Medical School.

“I think part of the problem is, many years ago psychiatrists used to do psychotherapy," says Kirsch. "One of the things that’s happened over the last few decades is that has decreased more and more and more so that psychiatry has become the profession of managing drugs.”

So when wondering if antidepressants will eventually be completely eradicated as part of a depression treatment, it is just safer to admit that as long as the drugs continue to sell, manufacturers will keep making them... and doctors will continue prescribing them.

Another Reglan Lawsuit Dismissed, But Hope is Not Lost

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:30:00 -0600

On March 28, 2012, U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore signed an order in yet another generic Reglan lawsuit that accused the manufacturers of failing to properly warn patients of the tardive dyskinesia risks linked to the drug. When he ruled, the judge claimed that the lawsuit brought against defendants was preempted by federal law, which states that generic manufacturers are not liable for providing better warnings than what the brand name manufacturers use.

That is not the end of things though, since Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy recently announced that he is about to introduce a new bill in Congress that could change how generic manufacturers label their drugs. All of this hubbub surrounds the Supreme Court decision in the PLIVA v. Mensing lawsuit which states that generic manufacturers cannot be held liable in failure-to-warn lawsuits as long as their warning labels mirror those by their brand name counterparts.

Ever since that ruling, generic Reglan lawsuits have been finding some challenges in making their claims. However, even as these cases are being dismissed by some judges, most of them are being dismissed without prejudice, which means that they can be altered to include the brand name manufacturers and be re-filed.

If you have filed a generic Reglan lawsuit or are thinking about it, you can still do that even if you used the generic version of the drug. If Leahy's bill is passed, things may just get a little bit easier.

Reglan, in both generic and brand name versions, has long been linked to tardive dyskinesia, which is a neurological disorder that permanently affects patients. The condition is characterized by involuntary movements of the extremities, lip smacking, grimacing, eye twitching and blinking. The condition is quite debilitating for those who suffer from it. If you have developed TD after taking Reglan in either of its forms, do not lose hope as you can still file a Reglan lawsuit. Talk to a lawyer who knows about the cases that are currently moving forward and you can still receive compensation for your injuries.

Louisiana Woman Files Yaz Lawsuit Over Gallbladder Disease

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:30:00 -0600

The Illinois MDL just added another Yaz gallbladder lawsuit to its roster of plaintiffs: Shannon Landry, a resident of Louisiana, filed her case against Bayer on February 24, 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, where it was quickly transferred to the MDL.

Landry took Yaz from 2001 until 2010. What is interesting are the conditions that she says Yaz caused her to get. Landry is claiming that the oral contraceptive caused her to suffer from different side effects than other lawsuit claimants thus far, including headaches, anxiety, mood swings and fatigue. By 2011, she's claiming, taking Yaz caused her to suffer from a condition called biliary dyskinesia. Biliary dyskinesia is a condition that causes complications with filling and emptying the gallbladder. Landry had surgery to have her gallbladder removed on March 24, 2011.

Bayer, the company which manufactures Yaz, has been accused of being negligent in how they manufactured and designed the pills. They have also been accused of not properly warning the public of the dangers linked to Yaz, which include heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease and blood clots that can lead to pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis. Those side effects have caused many women and their families to file lawsuits against Bayer.

Bayer had stood by the drospirenone-based pills by claiming that they are no more dangerous than older generation pills that don’t contain drospirenone. However, as recently as February 2012, it was announced that the drug giant decided to settle as many as 70 lawsuits that were pending. It is not known yet if the company will settle more, but in settling at least some cases, the company is flirting with the recognition of some sort of liability, which can be a huge blessing to the other plaintiffs with Yaz lawsuits pending.

Twelve Plaintiffs File Yaz Lawsuits, Join California Proceedings

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:30:00 -0600

Recently, twelve women who live in different states filed lawsuits over Yaz and Yasmin. Filed on March 27 of this year in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, the lawsuits will join the proceedings currently taking place there.

Like every other Yaz plaintiff, these twelve women are blaming Bayer, the makers of Yaz and Yasmin, for all of the injuries they sustained after taking the controversial birth control pills. The plaintiffs are also blaming generic makers of the drugs. For these lawsuits, blood clots are the focus. Yaz and Yasmin have been proven to cause the blood clots that can lead to pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis.

Each plaintiff is claiming different injuries caused by the pills. Dionne Threatt began taking Yaz in September 2006 and has suffered a stroke. Margaret Richards began taking the pills in July 2011, and developed a pulmonary embolism; this is the same condition claimed by Mary Gruver-Byers and Sandra Aranyos. Sherri Cookson, however, began using the pills in March 2006 and has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis. The same diagnosis was given to Sonya Pittman, Ginger Mire, Jennifer Barrick, Isabel Deleon and Ewelina Soi. Carolyn Spotted Horse developed both a pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis.

Yaz and Yasmin are designed with a synthetic progestin called drospirenone. Drospirenone has been proven to cause various side effects including heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease and blood clots. Yaz has caused so many lawsuits that Bayer recently agreed to settle as many as 70 of the lawsuits that were filed against them over Yaz side effects. In an Illinois MDL that consists of more than 6,000 Yaz lawsuits, the plaintiffs are alleging that they developed various injuries after taking the controversial birth control pills.