Quoted from http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/11/25/yasmin-mersereau-suit.html
Yasmin birth control lawsuit a 1st in Canada
CBC News
Posted: Nov 25, 2011 3:38 PM ET
The relatives of a woman who died in Toronto after taking Yasmin birth control pills have launched the first individual civil lawsuit against the drug manufacturer in Canada.
Vicky Caprice Mersereau, 26, died in 2009 of a large pulmonary embolism after she ingested Yasmin, the legal firm Siskinds LLP said in a statement to CBC News.
Yasmin, which is made by Bayer Inc., is one of Canada's top-selling birth control pills. It is a so-called "fourth generation" hormonal contraceptive and is considered "low dose."
The announcement of the suit, launched Friday in London, Ont., comes ahead of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's public hearings on the oral contraceptive scheduled for Dec. 8 in Maryland.
The FDA's reproductive health and drug safety committee will be looking at the safety of Yasmin and its unique progestin, drospirenone.
Last month, the FDA warned that oral contraceptives containing the hormone drospirenone, and sold in Canada under the name Yasmin (or its sister pill Yaz), increase the risk of blood clots by 74 per cent, compared with older pills on the market.
