The availability of birth control has become one of the great revolutions of the 20th century, giving women a concrete way to prevent unwanted pregnancies. They are considered critical components of any reasonable attempt at birth control, even if they have possible side effects. Being products that rely on the manipulation and alteration of baseline hormone levels in the female body, birth control pills and patches can cause side effects that are unpleasant. However, there have been a multitude of supposedly anecdotal reports, all of which are known to be unconfirmed, that birth control patches can be lethal.
This idea stems from a chain message being spread via e-mail. The message speaks of a certain Dr. Nicole Dishuk McKeon, who apparently died because of blood clots that were caused by her birth control patches. The story goes on to say that the hormones introduced or altered by the patches caused the lethal blood clots. The story does not directly specify which patch does this, but from the description, it was one that prevented a woman from having more than three menstrual periods within a year. Supposedly, there were multiple clots that were causing...