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Yaz Lawyer

Motley Rice Yaz lawyers are currently reviewing lawsuits involving women who are non-smokers and have experienced adverse side effects following the use of Yaz®. Yaz is a popular birth control pill manufactured by Bayer AG that has been linked to serious heart-related health problems that include blood clots, heart attack and stroke.

In April 2012, the FDA announced that birth control pills such as Yaz that contain the hormone drospirenone (synthetic version of the naturally occurring female hormone progesterone) will carry new labeling warning that these drugs may be more likely to cause blood clots than other types of birth control. The new labeling is based on recent studies that compared drospirenone-containing pills to low-dose estrogen pills.

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Contact a Yaz Lawyer

Lawyers at Motley Rice are currently reviewing potential Yaz lawsuits. If you or a loved one took Yaz and suffered serious side effects such as heart attack or stroke, feel free to contact Yaz lawyer Carmen Scott by email or by calling 1.800.768.4036 to learn more about your legal rights.

Yaz Side Effects

Citing multiple benefits above and beyond contraception, the label for Yaz fails to highlight the serious potential side effects of the drug, including heart attack, blood clots and stroke. The FDA has cautioned the manufacturer about misleading marketing tactics that minimize these serious side effects and overstate the effectiveness of the drug. Yaz side effects may include:

  • blood clots
  • death
  • deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
  • heart attack or myocardial infarction
  • pulmonary embolism
  • stroke

Yaz Information

Yaz is a newer version of Yasmin®, a contraceptive developed by Berlex Laboratories (a U.S. affiliate of the German company Schering AG) and approved for use in the United States in 2001. Bayer AG acquired Berlex Laboratories in 2006 and began marketing Yaz in 2006. Like other oral contraceptives, Yaz contains a combination of the hormones estrogen and progestin. The difference between Yasmin and Yaz is the amount of ethinylestradiol, the estrogen component of the combination, in the drugs. Yasmin contains 30 mcg while Yaz contains 20mcg.

Yasmin, followed by Yaz, was the first type of birth control to contain drospirenone, or drsp, a synthetic progestin. Drospirenone may cause a side effect called hyperkalemia, or increased potassium levels, in high-risk users. Potassium helps control cardiac rhythm, so hyperkalemia can cause rhythm disturbances. Drospirenone may also act as a diuretic and cause dehydration. Additional Yaz side effects that may consequently result include:

  • death
  • gallbladder disease
  • kidney stones
  • renal failure

Because of these side effects and the increased risk for serious health problems, Yaz is not recommended for women with renal insufficiency, adrenal insufficiency or hepatic dysfunction.