Apr 2, 2008 6:00 am US/Pacific
Man Sues Birth Control Company In Wife's Death
Did 'NuvaRing' Lead To Fatal Blood Clots?
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (CBS) ―
A devastated husband is blaming a popular form of birth control for the death of his young wife, and now he's filing a lawsuit against the company.
Toms River resident Rob Bozicev lost his wife, Jackie, to a sudden blood clot in December.
"She just died overnight," he says. "It's too much for a family to through. She didn't have to die like this."
The grieving widower believes NuvaRing, a contraceptive Jackie started using after the birth of their daughter, caused her to collapse in front of their son and die on the way to the hospital.
"These children are going to be looking for their mother forever and ever," says Miriam Rankin Kelly, Jackie's mother.
Jackie's shocking death led Bozicev to file a lawsuit against Organon USA, the maker of NuvaRing.
"She was 32-years-old, never sick a day in her life. The only thing she did different was use this NuvaRing," he says. "You've got to get the word out to people to stop using this thing."
The lawsuit also names Schering Plough, which bought the company in November. A spokesperson says the company will vigorously defend itself and that "blood clots are a rare, but potential risk long associated with all combined hormonal contraceptives."
Jackie had been using NuvaRing for six months. Her autopsy shows the blood clot traveled through her pelvic region and lodged in her lungs.
"It has caused a lot of other people similar problems we've received calls from around the country," says Andrew D'Archy, Bozicev's attorney.
In fact, dozens of other lawsuits have been filed over complications with NuvaRing, which was approved by the FDA in 2001.
"We believe the hormones are just as dangerous as other hormones in oral contraceptives. Essentially they are creating these clots," says Carmen Scott, an attorney representing NuvaRing.
Scott says she's handling 50 NuvaRing cases.
"We have cases involving strokes in young women, and we actually have a case involving toxic shock syndrome," she says.
As for Jackie, her mom says the only symptom she had from the device – which is inserted in the body – was aches and pains the day before. "I hope that she could know how much I loved her," she says.
In addition to blood clots, NuvaRing also lists strokes, heart attacks, and breast cancer as possible side effects of their contraceptive.
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