Girl, 16, Dies After Taking Birth Control Pill To Ease Painful Periods

Layla Khan passed away after developing a blood clot in her brain just 10 days after starting birth control, YorkshireLive reports.

Khan, 16, who just began college and is from the UK, started taking the contraceptive pill on November 25 after being advised to do so by friends to ease her painful menstrual cycles. By December 5, the teenager began experiencing headaches and was vomiting by the end of the week.

Khan's aunt, Jenna Braithwaite, revealed: "On the Sunday night, she was being sick, a lot. 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."

She continued, "They said there was no red flags to go to the hospital, and to go to the hospital on Wednesday if it continued." Khan was screaming in pain on Monday evening. The aunt looked after the young girl, who informed her that the pain was "all over."

The family decided to take Khan to the hospital – but she collapsed in the bathroom, and her family carried her to the vehicle as she increasingly became unresponsive. They took a short drive from Immingham to the nearest hospital in Grimsby. The hospital ran a CT scan on Khan, and a blood clot was found in her brain. She was sent to Hull Royal Infermary in Yorkshire where she underwent operation.

On December 12, 2023, the doctors said she would not survive. The next day, she was pronounced brain-dead and passed away. This is the family's second loss in a short period of time, days away from Christmas. "Words can't even, we can't even say the words about how devastated our family are, we've only just recently lost my Nana. With it being so close to Christmas as well, it's a time for celebration and it sucks all the Christmas spirit out of you," Braithwaite said.

Source: GoFundMe/Screenshot

"The fact that they said there were no red flags and then the day later she's brain dead, it's incomprehensible. My sister, she's got newborn babies to look after and there are other children and she's got all of that going on at the same time. It's just such a shock, she's only just started college and got a job, it's just a shock, the family's absolutely devastated."

It's just a shock, the family's absolutely devastated.

Not only does birth control have a misogynistic history, but contraceptives are found to increase your risk for breast cancer. Who knew that messing with your body's natural rhythm could have consequences? It's unfortunate that doctors frequently prescribe the pill as a one-size-fits-all solution, rather than getting to the root issues of women's painful menstrual cycles.

It's known that about 1 in 3,000 women taking the pill will develop a blood clot, per the National Blood Clot Alliance. Yet, experts say that its most significant risks are "extremely rare." How many more women will suffer the side effects of birth control until doctors finally stop overprescribing it?

Khan's loved ones decided to donate her organs to those who need them, and she reportedly saved five people's lives just before Christmas. Alicia Binns, Braithwaite's daughter, is running a GoFundMe campaign to help Khan's family. "The family is absolutely devastated, and we would like to help raise as much as possible to help with funeral costs to give Layla the best send-off possible, like she deserves," their page reads. "She was the oldest child and princess of the family, and she deserves the best because she was the best. Along with helping the family at this difficult time, especially this close to Christmas, every little helps."

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