More than 100 women have raised charges against a pharmaceutical company in Pennsylvania, claiming that their pregnancies were due to an error in the packaging of birth control pills.
113 women from 23 states are suing the pharmaceutical company Qualitest, a subsidiary of Endo Pharmaceuticals, claiming compensation for damages, among which are: medical expenses, pain, suffering, lost wages, loss of consortium and even the cost of child rearing.
Birth control pills are a type of contraception that have the form of small tablets and are taken daily. Most pills contain two types of synthetic female hormones, which means they are made in a laboratory imitating those that are normally secreted by the ovary. They are estrogen and progesterone and are also called combined oral contraceptives.
According to the lawsuit, the birth control pills were packaged in the wrong order. “Rotated 180 degrees, reversing the weekly tablet orientation,” as ABC News reported.
As a result of this mistake, the women affected alleged that they had taken those inactive pills, or placebos (which contain inert ingredients), at the wrong time of the month, leaving them ” without adequate contraception.”
All but four of the 117 women involved in the lawsuit became pregnant and 94 went on to give birth. Seventeen of the women became pregnant but did not carry their pregnancies to term.
This is not the first mistake the company has made. Back in September 2011, the same packaging error prompted Qualitest to announce a voluntary recall of eight brands of birth control pills.
Endo Pharmaceuticals said in a statement that their commitment was for the patient’s safety, where product quality was taken seriously. They claimed that there was no new or recent withdrawal of a product. Declaring that the events that took place over four years, which led to the voluntary withdrawal, occurred in a very small number of package pills that were manufactured by an outside manufacturer.
Endo has been able to confirm a single blister that manifests a defect and was sold to a patient. In addition, courts have dismissed cases arising from the withdrawal because the plaintiff could not establish that they bought a defective package.
Source: ABC News