The complaint by Marion Larat, filed against Bayer for "unintentional attack on the integrity of the human person" is a first in France, the laboratory being however the subject of several legal actions in the United States.

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afp.com

  • The Bordeaux native Marion Larat was the first Frenchwoman to file a complaint against Bayer in 2012 after a stroke attributed to taking a Méliane pill. 

  • She is severely disabled after a stroke that ONIAM recognizes, by granting her claim for compensation, in connection with taking her 3rd generation pill. 

  • She hopes that there will be a trial so that the laboratories are faced with their responsibilities, in particular information vis-à-vis possible risks.

"I feel a little anger anyway, it's very long," reacts Marion Larat to

20 Minutes

after the announcement, this fall, of the opening of an investigation, eight years after his complaint against Bayer and the The national drug safety agency (ANSM), the first in France from a victim of the 3rd generation pill.

The young woman, now 33, was the victim in 2006 of a cerebrovascular accident (stroke) which she attributes to taking Méliane, a third-generation pill.

She should be heard by an investigating judge by the end of the year.

The opening of the investigation will allow his lawyer, Jean-Christophe Coubris, to ask for expertise and "better identify any responsibilities of these laboratories", specifies the council.

A grueling legal battle

His first criminal action dates back to December 2012. "The Prosecutor's Office was seized, and considered the opportunity to open an investigation (normally it takes between 15 days to six months) there, he reflected for five years", points to his lawyer.

At the end of five years, the Public Prosecutor's Office closed without action.

It was at that time, in 2017, that Marion Larat filed a complaint with the constitution of civil party.

“Normally this triggers the opening of an instruction.

But in this case, the investigating judge and the public prosecutor's office refused to open the investigation, which is what I contested before the investigation chamber ”.

Two years later she ruled in favor of the complainant with an opening of the investigation in July 2020.

Currently, she suffers the after-effects of this accident on a daily basis.

"I have epileptic seizures, I have a hand that does not work well, and aphasia plagues me a lot," describes the young woman in a slightly broken language.

I am recognized as 80% disabled ”.

Despite her health problems, she wants to continue this trying legal battle.

"When we had, in the context of a civil expertise, a report which highlighted the link of accountability between taking the pill and her stroke, she could have taken a much shorter circuit and be compensated very quickly. before a civil court, says his lawyer.

She did not want it for a collective interest, to give priority to criminal action.

"This made it possible to publicize the affair and to reduce the sale of 3rd and 4th generation pills by more than 50% and to work" so that there is no longer any prescription in first intention because the danger is when you are in contact for the first time with this method of contraception, ”he adds.

A somewhat exceptional compensation

On September 2, 2020, the court ordered the National Medical Accident Compensation Office (ONIAM) to pay the young woman 4.5 million euros in compensation and an annuity of 25,000 euros per year.

"It is a fair compensation, the career of Marion Larat promised to be brilliant, notes his lawyer.

She had finished hypokhâgne and just before her stroke, she was returning to HEC Montreal.

"

Compensation which represents recognition by civil judges of a link between taking his pill and his stroke.

"On this point, there is no longer a subject," says Jean-Christophe Coubris.

But we want to show that it is the duty of laboratories to give correct information on the fact that there is an increased risk of having a stroke or pulmonary embolism.

At the time, it wasn't even on the long list of side effects.

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“I hope we will lead to a trial at one point or another, slips Marion Larat.

For me it's over, in a way, but young women must be aware of the risks they run, it is not inevitable that some die ”.

To date, 340 cases relating to 3rd and 4th generation pills have been opened within the firm of Maître Coubris.

Among these victims, a hundred presented after-effects, of which four died.

"I have good hopes of fueling the criminal proceedings as soon as there are indictments", concludes the lawyer.

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