Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Bradley Jolly

Mum dies from blood clot after being put on contraceptive pill for heavy period

A mum died from a blood clot after being put on a contraceptive pill to ease heavy period bleeding.

Susan Walton died when a blood clot got wedged into an artery in her lungs, a rare side effect of the contraceptive.

But the 46-year-old's inquest yesterday was told she collapsed suddenly two months after first taking it. She was rushed to hospital but died days later.

The assistant coroner for central and southeast Kent, Bina Patel, said: "She died of pulmonary thromboembolism, recognised risk of the oral contraceptive pill prescribed for longstanding menorrhagia."

She recorded a narrative conclusion at Maidstone Coroner's Court.

Menorrhagia is abnormally heavy bleeding during menstruation.

A woman puts a pill in her mouth (file image) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

But pulmonary thromboembolism happens when a clump of material, most often a blood clot, gets wedged into the artery in the lungs.

Typically, chest pain and difficulty breathing are signs of pulmonary thromboembolism.

Mrs Walton's husband, Jeremy Walton, said: "My wife was taken away very suddenly and before her time.

"She is sorely missed by me and her two sons Nathan and Jeremy James.

"While we cannot bring her back, we hope that the conclusion of the inquest highlights to others the risks associated with taking the combined oral contraceptive pill, and more importantly how these risks can differ in severity from person to person."

The 23-day inquest in Maidstone, Kent, which ended last month, heard the cleaner visited her locum GP Dr Wain at the town's Market Place Surgery last May.

But she collapsed two months later and was rushed to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.

Short term contraception pills explained by NHS Choices

And Ms Walton died on July 26, 2018 as a result of cardiorespiratory failure caused by pulmonary thromboembolism, the obstruction of a blood vessel.

But Dr Alastair Bint, an independent GP expert, was critical of Dr Wain's decision. He told the hearing of the risk of blood clot as being the single biggest risk of the combined oral contraceptive pill and cited two sources of guidance available to GPs.

The Medical Defence Union (MDU), representing Dr Wain at the inquest, said it was reasonable for Dr Wain to prescribe Yasmin because the benefits of the pill outweighed the risk of Mrs Walton developing a blood clot.

Speaking outside the court, Jenny Waight, the lawyer at Thomson Snell & Passmore, said: "The evidence of the independent expert in this case was that Yasmin was the combined oral contraceptive pill with the highest risk of blood clot and that it should not have been prescribed to Mrs Walton.

"I hope the inquest's conclusion brings closure for our client and his family and goes some way in raising awareness of the associated risks of taking the combined oral contraceptive pill."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.