Dozens Of Women File Lawsuit Over Suspected Birth Control Mixup
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Dozens of women say a birth control mixup led them to unwanted pregnancies.
The lawsuit lists 113 women, three from Northern California, who claim a drug company distributed defective birth control pills, resulting in unwanted pregnancies.
The company, Qualitest Pharmaceuticals, recalled eight different kinds of contraceptives, or millions of packets, in 2011 after discovering that rows of pills may have been placed upside down. Women not paying attention would have taken placebo pills during the week they should have been taking hormone pills.
"In my 30 years as a pharmacist I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this," said Dr. Grant Lackey of the Pharmacy College in Elk Grove.
He says this should be a wakeup call to pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and patients.
"There's many cases where wrong medications have been dispensed physician's written wrong prescriptions. These medical errors do happen," he said. this being said we all have to be diligent to make sure we double check with the pharmacists and their physician."
"Generations of women have trusted that when they pick up pills in pharmacy it'll be put together in the right way and when companies mess up they need to do the right thing," said Cindy Pearson, the head of the National Women's Health Network.
She says it will be difficult to prove women got pregnant because of the alleged packaging error. The company says it's only been able to confirm one defective pack ever sold to a patient.