There she goes again- Ortho Evra continues to kill

A Killer Named Ella

Every NFP couple out there knows that they can potentially get pregnant on Friday from sex they had on Monday. They understand that sperm can survive for as long as five days in a fertile environment. They may have enjoyed their romantic encounter at home by candlelight, but the miracle of new life happened in the produce aisle while Mom was choosing potatoes.

Read the article--  http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=37847

The Claims on Contraceptive Dangers are mounting

The truth will out, they say.

While we line up to purchase our "Fund the Cure" postage stamps, the true cure for breast cancer exists right in front of our own noses: hormonal contraceptives and abortion are linked to breast cancer.
While Ortho Evra and Planned Parenthood deceive women with the false glamor of the Patch, women are dying and lay on their deathbed from pulmonary embolism, stroke and dangerous blood clots. Where is the glamor in the death of a young woman?

Do these companies and organizations have true concern for women, their health and well being?

In the case of breast cancer, one might add that the more money the public gives to the cancer fundraising industry, the more women there are who develop the disease. In 1970, one in 12 women were expected to develop breast cancer. In 2004, more than 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with it. The American Cancer Society expects 216,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 59,000 cases of in situ breast cancer in 2004.

If the cancer establishment were truly interested in reducing breast cancer rates, it would have exhibited an interest in preventing the disease. The best way to prevent breast cancer (and cut breast cancer rates by more than one-half) is to have more children, starting before age 24, and breastfeeding them longer.

If women's lives mattered more than fundraising and protecting the abortion and the pharmaceutical industries, then the cancer fundraising industry would have long ago fingered abortion as one of the culprits responsible for these recognized reproductive risk factors - childlessness, decreased childbearing, delayed first birth, and little or no breastfeeding.

If women's lives mattered, then women would have been told in 1986 when U.S. government scientists admitted that abortion is an independent cause of breast cancer. [Stadel B, Wingo P, et al. Letter to editor, Lancet, Feb. 22, 1986, p. 436]

Woman Sues “Birth Control” Patch Manufacturer for Pulmonary Embolism

NEW YORK, September 13, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A 37 year old woman who suffered a pulmonary embolism after using the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch for seven months has filed a lawsuit against the patch’s manufacturer, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc., a division of Johnson and Johnson Inc.

Recent reports have indicated that the risk of developing blood clots, pulmonary embolism, heart attack and stroke may be significantly higher with the Ortho Evra patch than with other hormonal contraceptives.

Pulmonary embolism is a potentially fatal condition triggered by a blood clot that obstructs an artery in the lungs, often leaving victims with chronic health problems requiring long-term anticoagulant medications. Reports show that the deaths of at least seventeen young American women over the past two years may be related to Ortho Evra patch use.

The first fatality publicly blamed on the Ortho Evra patch came in April 2005, when a Manhattan fashion student collapsed in a city subway station. An autopsy found a blood clot had moved into the victim’s lung, and the medical examiner ruled that the clot was a side effect of the birth control device. FDA records show that seventeen patch users between the ages of 17 and 30 have suffered fatal heart attacks, blood clots and possible strokes since August 2002.

It is alleged that Ortho-McNeil was aware of the increased medical risks associated with Ortho Evra before the drug was approved and that, once approved, the company failed to adequately warn patients about these risks. The incidence of blood clots in Phase III trials of Ortho Evra was reportedly six times greater than the incidence of such events in women taking oral contraceptives.

The FDA has logged 9,116 reports of adverse reactions to the patch in a 17 month period, whereas Ortho Tri-Cyclen, a birth control pill, only generated 1,237 adverse reports in a six year period. During a 12 month period, 44 serious injuries or deaths have been associated with Ortho Evra, whereas only 17 such reports were linked to the birth control pill during a similar time period. The pattern is further magnified when usage rates are considered: Ortho Tri-Cyclen has six times the number of users as Ortho Evra.

Prior to approval, the FDA medical review expressed concerns about Ortho Evra causing venous thromboembolisms, stating: “Post-marketing surveillance for DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) and PE (Pulmonary Embolism) events will be important, as there are potential serious adverse risks (with two cases of pulmonary emboli in the clinical trials) with this new delivery system for contraception.”

Ortho Evra was approved by the FDA in April 2002, and over 4 million women have used Ortho Evra since its approval. Ortho Evra continues to be marketed aggressively to both consumers and physicians.

Parker & Waichman, LLP, the legal firm representing the woman, is soliciting any women who may have been adversely affected by using Ortho Evra. They can be contacted at their web site: http://www.yourlawyer.com

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
FDA Reveals 17 Fatalities in Two Years from Contraceptive "Sex Patch"
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/sept/04092001/htm...
18 Year-Old New York Student Dies Suddenly from Birth Control Complications
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04040606.html

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There she goes again? 23 of them have gone...

Birth Control Patch Claims 23 Lives and Counting

NEW YORK, July 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Federal drug safety reports obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request, "indicate that in 2004 -- when 800,000 women were on the patch -- the risk of dying or suffering a survivable blood clot while using the device was about three times higher than while using birth control pills."

AP points out that the majority of the women were young and in otherwise good health and at low risk for blood clots - "women like Zakiya Kennedy, an 18-year-old Manhattan fashion student who collapsed and died in a New York subway station last April," the AP relates. "Or Sasha Webber, a 25-year-old mother of two from Baychester, N.Y., who died of a heart attack after six weeks on the patch last March."

Some doctors who reviwed the Food and Drug Administration reports "were alarmed," according to the report. "I was shocked," said Dr. Alan DeCherney, editor-in-chief of Fertility and Sterility and a UCLA professor of obstetrics and gynecology."

The patch's manufacturer, Ortho McNeil, claimed that one death attributed to the patch should not be counted because it occurred in a woman who had undergone surgery. "But an FDA reviewer, using capital letters and underscoring his comments, took issue with Ortho McNeil," the AP report continued.

"THE REVIEWER DOES NOT AGREE WITH THE SPONSOR'S ABOVE CONCLUSIONS," the reviewer's report warns. "The two cases of pulmonary embolus, a serious and potentially fatal condition, must be counted as two cases . . . The incidence rates quoted by the sponsor may be misleading." The reviewer added, "The label should clearly reflect this reviewer's safety concern about a potential increased risk."

The AP reviewed 16,000 files related to patch-related effects. "These ranged from mild rashes to deaths, and there were many duplicate reports," they said. "Within this collection of reports, the AP found 23 different deaths associated with the patch. The primary cause of death in those reports isn't always clear -- some mention suicide, others abortion. Doctors who reviewed the 23 cases found about 17 that appeared to be clot-related, including 12 from last year."

(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com is a production of Interim Publishing. Permission to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is *REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).

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related story:
Abortion-Causing Birth Control Patch Manufacturer Faces Class-Action Lawsuit

Fatalities Blamed On Birth Control Patch

Written By The Associated Press
Created:7/13/2005 3:36:46 PM
Last Updated:7/13/2005 3:39:23 PM


Gingerly, Kathleen Thoren's family gathered around her in the intensive care unit, unable to speak to their beloved sister, daughter, wife, or even stroke her hands. The slightest stimulation might create a fatal amount of pressure on the 25-year-old woman's swollen brain, warned the doctors.

"We were horrified, but we tried to just quietly be with her," said her sister Erika Klein. "In the end, it didn't help."

The mother of three died last fall, just after Thanksgiving, after days of agonizing headaches that the coroner's report said were brought on by hormones released into her system by Ortho Evra, a birth control patch she had started using a few weeks earlier.

She was among about a dozen women, most in their late teens and early 20s, who died last year from blood clots believed to be related to the birth control patch. Dozens more survived strokes and other clot-related problems, according to federal drug safety reports obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request.

Several lawsuits have already been filed by families of women who died or suffered blood clots while using the patch, and lawyers said more are planned.

Though the Food and Drug Administration and patch-maker Ortho McNeil saw warning signs of possible problems with the patch well before it reached the market, both maintain that the patch is as safe as the pill.

However, the reports obtained by the AP appear to indicate that in 2004 -- when 800,000 women were on the patch -- the risk of dying or suffering a survivable blood clot while using the device was about three times higher than while using birth control pills.

The women who died were young and apparently at low risk for clots -- women like Zakiya Kennedy, an 18-year-old Manhattan fashion student who collapsed and died in a New York subway station last April. Or Sasha Webber, a 25-year-old mother of two from Baychester, N.Y., who died of a heart attack after six weeks on the patch last March.

Some doctors, reviewing the Food and Drug Administration reports at the request of The AP, were alarmed. "I was shocked," said Dr. Alan DeCherney, editor-in-chief of Fertility and Sterility and a UCLA professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

But other doctors said they would have expected some deaths and no investigation is warranted. They point to more than 4 million women who have safely used the patch and note that the FDA reports are called in voluntarily, rather than gathered scientifically.

"It doesn't jump out at me to say, 'Let's look at this any further,"' agreed Dr. Steven J. Sondheimer, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. "I don't feel that these need to be looked at in any detail."

Ortho McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, says none of the deaths can be directly attributed to the patch.

"Although we are investigating each and every one of the reports that we get, we have not drawn any causal relationships to the medication," said Dr. Katherine LaGuardia, Ortho McNeil's director of women's health care.

Not one? "Right," she said. "It's difficult to reach a definitive answer, and privacy laws prevent us from investigating as thoroughly as we wish."

Blood clots are an accepted risk from hormonal birth control because estrogen promotes blood coagulation.

But how many clots are too many?

The AP found that before the patch was approved, the FDA had already noticed nonfatal blood clots from the patch were three times that of the pill. The AP then examined what has actually happened since the patch came on the market and found that deaths also appear to be at least three times as high.

If you are a woman taking the pill who doesn't smoke and is under 35, the chance that you are going to have a blood clot that doesn't kill you is between 1 and 3 in 10,000. Your risk of dying from a blood clot while using the pill is about 1 in 200,000.

By contrast, with the patch, the rate of nonfatal blood clots was about 12 out of 10,000 users during the clinical trials, while the rate of deaths appears to be 3 out of 200,000.

Clots usually form in the legs, and become serious problems if they travel to a woman's heart, lungs or brain.

In 2000, doctors at the FDA reviewing clinical trials of the wafer-thin, plastic patch warned that blood clots could be a problem if it was approved....

read the rest of AP Report