Women and children who have suffered miscarriages and birth defects vow ‘to be heard’
‘Victims’ of pregnancy test drugs demand payouts: Women and children who have had miscarriages and birth defects vow to be ‘heard’ amid attempts to throw out their cases
- Compensation case of 200 people who claim to have suffered damage from the drug Primodos
- The hormone-based pregnancy test was withdrawn in 1978 due to safety concerns
- A five-day hearing began yesterday – defendants say the case should be dismissed
Women and children who claim miscarriages and birth defects from a pregnancy test drug said yesterday they were determined to “be heard” despite efforts to have their case dismissed.
About 200 people who say they have been harmed by Primodos have filed a compensation case against Bayer Pharma, Schering Health Care, Aventis Pharma and the government.
The hormone-based pregnancy test was introduced in the 1950s, and up to a million women thought they had used it before it was withdrawn in 1978 due to safety concerns.
The five-day hearing began yesterday at the High Court in London, with defendants arguing that the case should be dismissed without trial. They argue that the claim is “entirely speculative” with a lack of causative evidence, meaning it has “no realistic prospect of success.”
But Marie Lyon, 76, of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, said women and children had already “died waiting for justice.” Her daughter Sarah was born with a partially formed arm, which she says was a result of taking the pills.
Marie Lyon, 76, photo, of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, said women and children had already “died waiting for justice.” Her daughter Sarah was born with a partially formed arm, which she says was a result of taking the pills
About 200 people who say they have been harmed by Primodos have filed a compensation case against Bayer Pharma, Schering Health Care, Aventis Pharma and the government. Pictured: plaintiffs outside the Supreme Court
Outside court, she said: “We want recognition and acceptance that they were able to prevent this and that is more important to us than anything – to prevent it from happening again.
“The second reason we want it is to get rid of guilt. All of our mothers, myself included, feel guilty that we took the tablets, that we didn’t ask for them and that we didn’t ask questions about them.
‘As first-time mothers, as many of us were, we never dreamed of questioning our GP. That guilt will never go away for all of us.
“The third reason we need to be heard is story. We have lost three of our children in their late 40s, early 50s who have died from the effects and that was in the last three months.
We know their health is deteriorating. We need to know that they have certainty in the future.’
The tablets worked by inducing a period when the woman was not pregnant. Schering, now owned by Bayer, has always denied any association between the drug and infant malformations.
The case continues.