Clots: Contraception, Concoction or Combination – 2 cases of young women gone forever

Stuff recently reported the Coroner’s findings on the deaths of two young women who both died in Sept 2021 of blood clots in the lungs.  According to the article Georgia (24) died of pulmonary thrombosis (clotting within the blood vessels of the lungs) and Isabella (17) of pulmonary embolus (clotting which travelled from the legs to the lungs).

Both young women had recently (re)started the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) and both were subsequently found to have an undiagnosed condition (Factor V Leiden variation) that increased the risk of blood clotting.

What the journalist has not mentioned at all, and the coroner appears to have skipped over and discounted (at least in Isabella’s case), is that both these young women received their first Pfizer covid vaccination within the 2 weeks prior to their death. 

This novel type of injection has been demonstrated to increase the risk of clotting by several possible mechanisms – damaging the inner lining of blood vessels, affecting coagulation pathways, causing inflammation.  A freely available e-book has recently been written by experts discussing the many ways mRNA products can cause harm to the human body.

Why would such a crucial bit of information be omitted from the article?

Attributing the causes of death to the contraceptive pill in combination with a common genetic variation is disingenuous and appears to be attempting to hide the most likely real cause.

Most blood clots attributed to the OCP are not fatal. 

In Oct 2021 an OIA request asked:

 “How many women aged 15 to 20 die per year where the cause is attributed to the contraceptive pill?”

The answer was between 2000 and 2018 there were none:

“Mortality data is coded using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Within this classification, there is a code Y42.4 Oral contraceptives causing adverse effects in therapeutic use. From 2000 to 2018 there were no deaths in New Zealand where this was recorded as the underlying cause of death.”

Although the OIA requested deaths among young women, the answer implies that there were no deaths at all from OCP-related blood clots between 2000 and 2018.  Why suddenly two in one month both shortly following a novel medical procedure?

Being heterozygous (having only one copy of the gene not two) for factor Leiden V is not a contraindication to the OCP unless there is a personal or family history of venous thromboembolism (VTE).

One of the young women was taking Ginet (cyproterone acetate and ethinyloestradiol) which is a form of oral contraception that is known to have a higher risk of blood clotting than other oral contraceptives.  

However, Factor V Leiden has previously been deemed sufficiently inconsequential for OCP users that there has been no recommendation to do blood tests to screen young women for the variation prior to starting oral contraception.  The screening advice has recommended asking about a personal or family history of (unprovoked) blood clot, but has considered routine blood screening inappropriate.

The Medsafe datasheet for Ginet does not mention Factor V Leiden deficiency as a warning against using it.

It is a common genetic variation and there will be many other women in NZ taking the pill not knowing they have it, unaware that a covid injection could be an additive factor increasing their risk of developing a potentially fatal blood clot.

Why have the coroner and journalist not mentioned this?

Once again, as with Divya and Garrett, usual or thorough pharmacovigilance has been neglected.  The novel medical procedure should be considered causal, or at least contributory in these cases until proven otherwise.

Given the excess loss of life we suggest that Health New Zealand looks at the data that Barry released and in the least provides an interpretation of what the data reveals. This may be a first step in the public regaining trust.