{"id":234337,"date":"2020-11-10T17:36:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T23:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=234337"},"modified":"2020-11-10T14:25:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:25:23","slug":"fathers-daughters-death-birth-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/fathers-daughters-death-birth-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Two dads whose daughters died from hormonal birth control are educating women on risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Malone<\/a> and David Rowan<\/a> have each experienced the unthinkable: the loss of a child. Their daughters\u00a0Brittany Malone<\/a> and Alex Rowan<\/a> were both 23-year-old recent college graduates when they suddenly died due to complications from hormonal birth control<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brittany<\/a>\u00a0died in December of 2012 of a deep venous thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot in a major blood vessel, caused by the contraceptive NuvaRing<\/a>.\u00a0She collapsed after an evening out with her sisters and was declared brain dead three days later. According to her father, “Her death diagnosis was acute respiratory failure, diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage, diffuse venous thromboembolism with deep venous thrombosis, [and] severe anoxic brain damage.”<\/p>\n

Alex<\/a>\u00a0collapsed in 2013 on the landing in her apartment building after grocery shopping. Six hours later, she was dead. She suffered a massive pulmonary embolism \u2014\u00a0a blood clot in the lungs. Pulmonary embolisms are a known side effect of the birth control pill, which Alex was using for contraception. Both young women had minimal or no symptoms<\/em> in the days leading up to their deaths.<\/p>\n

In order to “educate other women and families about the very real risks<\/a> associated with hormonal contraceptives and the incredible lack of data and information available to women to make an informed choice,” Malone developed BirthControlSafety.org<\/a>, to which Rowan is\u00a0a contributor. According to research cited on the website, 1,500 women will die of a pulmonary embolism due to the birth control pill, patch, or NuvaRing in the United States each year. “A woman is 4-10 times more likely to develop a potentially fatal blood clot if she uses [the] pill, patch, or ring than if she uses an IUD or an implant,” according to the site. Stories of dozens of women who experienced a serious injury or even death due to complications of hormonal birth control are can be found on the site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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