The contraceptive pills would have killed 13 women between 1985 and 2012, according to a study by the National Medicines Safety Agency. According to certain associations, this figure is undervalued because the recognition of the status of victim is the obstacle course.
On a piece of paper, found in his room by his loved ones, Théodora had scribbled: " Dampering, because of the pill?" ». Words written shortly before she collapsed on the way to her high school in Saint-Chamond, in the Loire, October 14, 2007. She was 17 years old.
The girl, who did not know that she suffered from a hypercoagulity of blood -an accelerated coagulation -took the pill for 2 and a half months. Worried about noting certain abnormities, " she had an appointment with a doctor on the day of her accident " remembers her sister, Florence Markarian, president of the association of victims of pulmonary embolism and stroke. Théodora is one of the thirteen women officially died due to contraceptive treatment, identified by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) according to a study carried out between 2007 and 2011.
This figure is probably underestimated, due to the many difficulties in being recognized as a victim. The legal relentlessness of Marion Larat proves it: the young Bordeaux, victim of a stroke linked to the taking of the Méliane pill when she was a teenager, struggled for eight years to engage the responsibility of the manufacturer, the Bayer laboratory. Independent journalist Florence Heimburger tells of this modern version of David's fight against Goliath for rue89bordeaux and in the episode of November 10 of Podcastine.
To be recognized as a victim of contraceptive drugs, as explained, bitter, Florence Markarian, " we must fulfill admissibility criteria: a type of accident, a delay and a sequelae with the permanent or temporary damage to physical or mental integrity" . And Florence speaks knowingly, since it was after a three -year fight that the Regional Conciliation and Compensation Commission ended up recognizing, in 2010, that the death of her young sister was directly attributable to the prescription of the contraceptive .
From the loss of medical records to financial difficulties
Conversely, long -term disabled consequences, such as certain cognitive disorders or extreme fatigue, rarely suffice to be recognized as a victim because they are not always measurable. What Emmanuelle Huet-Mignaton regrets, president of the Amavea association and victim of Androcur. Because of this drug, often prescribed as a contraceptive in France and also used against acne, Emmanuelle has meningiomas - tumors that develop from meninges. " I had detected it in the brain .
Her fight was also complicated by administrative difficulties. To set up a file with his lawyer, it took him a year ... before recovering the 500 pages of his medical notebook. The gynecologist who made his follow -up, and who continues to practice today in Poitiers, did not give him access to his own medical data. " Fortunately, I kept all the prescriptions!" Because officially, my file is lost . This is not an isolated case, it happens regularly, especially when doctors are retired. ».
To this obstacle, are added financial difficulties: how to settle the 250 euros of the time of lawyers when the only resources come from the allowance to disabled adults? Because, following thrombosis or meningioma, the body undergoes irreversible damage and " at least half of the women who contact us can no longer work " deplores Emmanuelle.
Many other brakes exist: To be recognized as a victim is also to undergo a certain number of psychological violence. During medical expertise, bodily, health and social damage is often minimized and " hear that our sequelae is not important enough even if any activity requires a superhuman effort, it is unbearable", continues Emmanuelle.
While men are fruitful all year round until the end of their lives, women are fertile a few days a month until menopause. However, it is to them that contraceptive drugs are almost systematically prescribed which sometimes affect their physical integrity. Can this state of affairs continue, when the awareness of inequalities between women and men goes growing? On this point, the public debate remains in any case extremely marginal ...
