A Missouri mother is suing for the cost of raising her one-year-old daughter after she fell pregnant due to a botched course of her birth control pill.
Shanta Russell, 33, was stunned when a pregnancy test she took in June 2011 came up positive despite the fact she'd religiously taken the contraceptive pill for more than 12 years.
Three months later, she received a recall notice in the mail from Qualitest Pharmaceuticals informing her that the birth control pills had mistakenly been put in the wrong order in the blister pack, rendering the drug ineffective.
Lawsuit: Missouri mother Shanta Russell is suing for the cost of raising her one-year-old daughter after she fell pregnant due to a botched course of her birth control pill, pictured
The single Kansas City woman gave birth to her daughter in early 2012 and on February 6 filed a lawsuit against Qualitest in Jackson County Circuit Court, according to The Kansas City Star.
She said she was a workaholic with two jobs and that motherhood was a distant possibility, not something she wanted so soon. She said she didn't want to have an abortion.
Russell is demanding compensation for healthcare costs, expenses incurred in bringing up the little girl and damages for the emotional pain inflicted on her from the unwanted pregnancy.
She is also suing Qualitest's parent company and the firm that packaged the drugs.
'I was devastated,' Russell told The Star. 'I questioned myself. After all these years, how could this happen? Then I received a letter in the mail. Of course I was angry. There was nothing I did that was a mistake.'
Court: The lawsuit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, pictured, on February 6
The packaging errors meant that placebo pills, which should be taken when a woman has a period, were put in the packs at a point in a woman's cycle where pills containing hormones, or active pills, should have been.
The company's recall was followed by similar blunders from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Glenmark Generics and Sandoz. Together, millions of botched blister packs were distributed to pharmacies, likely resulting in scores of unwanted pregnancies.
A spokesman for Endo Pharmaceuticals, Qualitest’s parent company, refused to comment on the pending case.
The company has been hit with lawsuits from women in California, Tennessee and Texas who became pregnant while taking the pills.
Qualitest: The packaging errors meant that placebo pills, that should be taken when a woman has a period, were put in the packs at a point in a woman's cycle where pills containing hormones, or active pills, should have been
A class-action has been proposed in Georgia where around 200 women are claiming to have become pregnant because of the incorrect packaging. According to The Star, these women included some who were forced to drop out of nursing or law school and a woman in the military who gave up her baby for adoption because she was about to be deployed overseas.
Russell said the pregnancy thrust upon her has been life-changing, and brought about expenses such as baby clothes, medical appointments and in time, education. She is also unable to travel.
'When you have a kid you have to rearrange your life. You have to cut back on things,' she said.
But she said she adores her little girl.
'She has an amazing personality. She's the happiest child,' Russell told The Star. 'She's the most precious thing that ever happened. I can't live without her.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281427/Shanta-Russell-lawsuit-Mother-suing-cost-raising-year-old-daughter-botched-birth-control-pill-saw-fall-pregnant.html#ixzz2LSc8kvtg
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