A woman collapsed and died from a blood clot just three months after she started taking a new contraceptive pill.
Helen Schofield was not told of the risk of deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, when her GP prescribed Dianette for her heavy periods.
Because the drug also works as a contraceptive, the 33-year-old stopped taking her existing pill, Celeste.
But three months later, Miss Schofield collapsed as she was walking with her mother, Kay, shortly after putting down a deposit for her first home.
Tests after her death in February found a blood clot had developed in one of her legs before moving to her lungs where it blocked a key artery, and now an inquest has ruled there was a ‘pronounced’ link with the drug she was taking.
Today her mother criticised the GP for failing to give her a proper warning and said clearer advice should be given to women taking it.
Dianette, which is mainly prescribed for acne and excess hair, has also been blamed for the death from a blood clot of a 17-year-old A-level student who took it to get rid of her spots as well as being linked with severe depression.
Miss Schofield, a charity shop worker, had been to her doctor to discuss an increase in weight and period pains, her mother told an inquest. She was considered slightly overweight but not obese, which is also a risk factor in blood clots.
At her local surgery in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, Dr Margaret Colter prescribed her Dianette for her heavy periods.
Her mother – whose own husband died of a heart attack – said she was concerned after reading about side effects in the accompanying leaflet, but she said that after calling the surgery she was reassured it was safe.
Within weeks, however, Miss Schofield began suffering from a persistent cough. She was prescribed antibiotics by another doctor who examined her legs for any sign of swelling but found none.
Weeks later she collapsed and died later in hospital.
Dr Colter was questioned at the hearing as to whether she had advised the patient that the new drug presented four times the risk of DVT of other contraceptive pills.
The doctor, who had been seeing Miss Schofield for the first time after the retirement of her regular GP, said she hadn’t because she would have been told about the risk when she began taking Celeste.
She insisted: ‘Any pill has its risks.’
Recording a verdict of misadventure, Manchester assistant deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said there was a known link between Dianette and DVT.
‘It seems to me that the connection in this particular case is quite pronounced,’ she added.
Afterwards Miss Schofield’s mother said she wanted the General Medical Council to investigate the doctor as well as tougher controls on Dianette.
‘To me it’s a lethal drug,’ said the 62-year-old. ‘If you don’t read the leaflet that comes with it about the risks word for word, young girls are going to think it’s wonderful because it treats acne and works as a contraceptive.
‘To think others could be prescribed this drug frightens me to death. For some people it might be perfectly fine. But if I had known the risks there’s no way on God’s earth I would have advised Helen to have taken it.
‘Helen’s dream was to get her own little house. She found it, paid her deposit and within one-and-a-half hours was dead.’
In 1997 Christina Robinson, a 17-year-old A-level student from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, died from a massive clot on her lung after being prescribed Dianette to cure her acne.
And in 2006 its safety was reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority after campaigners presented a dossier of complaints from 100 women who said they suffered severe depression after taking the drug.
Manufacturers Bayer expressed their condolences to Miss Schofield’s family but insisted it was perfectly safe for the vast majority of women if properly prescribed.
‘Every report about possible side effects is thoroughly investigated by our medical experts,’ a spokesman added.
He stressed that the risk of blood clots is slightly increased with any contraceptive pill, while some of the conditions Dianette is used to treat are in themselves risk factors in clotting, such as acne and excess hair or hirsutism.
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