Parents of a 16-year-old girl are blaming hormonal birth control for her sudden death just days before Christmas in England.
According to The Daily Mail, Layla Khan of Lincolnshire died on December 13 after a scan revealed she had a blood clot in her brain. Her death came just two and a half weeks after she began taking hormonal contraception in hopes of easing menstrual pains.
Layla began taking birth control on November 25 and by December 5 she had begun having headaches that eventually led to vomiting. Her parents called the National Health Service helpline but were told her symptoms were not “red flags” for anything.
View this post on Instagram
“On the Sunday night, she was being sick, a lot,” her aunt Jenna Braithwaite told Yorkshire Live. “She was basically vomiting every 30 minutes so they got a GP appointment on the Monday morning, they took her to the GP. Even though she was being sick the whole time she was at the GP’s, they gave her anti-sickness tablets and told her that they thought it was a stomach bug. They said there was no red flags to go to the hospital, and to go to the hospital on Wednesday if it continued.”
But the next day, December 11, Layla began screaming in pain before collapsing in the family’s bathroom. Her mother carried her to the car and drove her to the hospital where doctors did a CT scan and located a blood clot in Layla’s brain. Layla underwent emergency surgery but she was unable to be saved. She died two days later.
“The fact that they said there were no red flags and then the day later she’s brain dead, it’s incomprehensible,” said Braithwaite.
READ: ‘We never tell’: Planned Parenthood helping minors travel ‘every day’ for abortions
Layla’s parents are now speaking out about the connection between hormonal birth control and blood clots, as her doctors said they could not think of anything else that would have caused the clot.
Layla’s cousin, Alicia Binns, said the family decided to speak out because “the risks [of birth control] are not spoken about enough.” She added that Layla was “beautiful and intelligent, loved and cherished by so many people, and had her whole life ahead of her.” She was the oldest of five children and had hoped to attend Oxford University.
The NHS website states that the risks of getting a blood clot from birth control are “very small, but your doctor will check if you have certain risk factors before prescribing the pill.” Unfortunately, doctors have been accused of not fully explaining the risks of blood clots or the symptoms.
Research shows that up to 400 women a year die as a result of taking hormonal birth control. Pulmonary embolisms and strokes have been rare in young adults; however, as reported by The Federalist, once birth control hit the market, the number of young people experiencing cardiovascular problems such as pulmonary embolisms and strokes increased.
