Canadian officials have recently announced the recall of a particular lot of birth control pills called Alysena 28. The recall affects a small number of packages which contained 14 placebo and 14 active pills rather than 21 active pills and 7 placebo.
Women who are taking the pill in order to prevent pregnancy could face the possibility of an unintended pregnancy should they take the pills subject to the recall. The particular brand of birth control pill subject to this error, Alysena 28, is sold in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, P.E.I. and Quebec. Many pharmacies are reporting that they did not receive or distribute the affected pills.
Although this error occurred in Canada, there have been many similar birth control pill packaging errors in the U.S. recently. Last February alone, Glenmark Generics and Pfizer, Inc. issued individual recalls for birth control pills which were packaged in the incorrect order. Speculation regarding wrongful pregnancy cases abounded on the internet. Several of the sources regarding these recalls point out the fact that the affected pills are different colors, so patients who have been taking the medications for a period of time may have avoided taking the pills incorrectly.
While it remains unclear whether a lawsuit or even class action against a drug manufacturer for unintended pregnancy would be viable, what has not been as widely discussed is the potential impact of the additional hormones on the individual’s system. Birth control pills are sometimes prescribed to address issues other than preventing pregnancy, such as with hormonal imbalance issues, or to prevent acne, for example. There have been several birth control hormone related warnings regarding increased risk for deep vein thrombosis, stroke, and other serious complications. If you have suffered injury or other serious side effects as a result of improper birth control dosing, you may be entitled to compensation from the drug manufacturer.
Other common prescription errors include pharmacists compounding drugs improperly, resulting in too strong or too diluted of a dose, filling the incorrect drug altogether and, in some recent cases, commingling correct drugs with incorrect ones. In one case, for example, childrens’ vitamins were commingled with a drug prescribed to treat breast cancer.
If you or someone you loved has been injured or died due to a pharmacy error in Maryland or Washington, D.C., you should contact the attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen. Our pharmacy error attorneys have many years of experience in successfully representing individuals who have suffered injuries, damages, harms and losses due to receiving the wrong prescriptions or incorrect medicine because of a pharmacy misfill or pharmacy error. Call us today at 1-800-654-1949 in order to schedule your free initial consultation. You can also contact us through our website.
More Blog Posts:
Watered Down Chemo Given to Thousands of Patients in Compounding Error, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, published April 8, 2013
Utilization of Computer System May Lead to MILLIONS Fewer Medication Errors, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, published March 27, 2013