Nancy Berry, from Bexley, Kent, was 16 when she died in January 1995 from a clot on the lung. She had been taking the third-generation contraceptive pill Femodene for a month to ease her period pains.

Clots in teenagers are more likely to be fatal than in women in their 20s or 30s because doctors are less likely to suspect the cause. At first they thought Nancy was suffering from a panic attack when she was rushed to hospital with breathing problems.

Her heart stopped twice and she was put in intensive care on life support. She died the next day and the postmortem examination gave pulmonary embolism as a cause of death. Her mother, Yvonne, who was at court yesterday, said: "There is nothing worse than losing a child."

Beverley Marsh, from Warminster, Wiltshire, suffered a heart attack and died just before her 21st birthday in 1995. She had been due to join Avon and Somerset police but developed blood clots after taking a third-generation pill.

Her parents, Harry and Patricia Marsh, who came to see the case open yesterday, believe she would still be alive if she had not taken the pill.

"This action is not about money. It is about justice and it has been a long time coming," said Mrs Marsh. "What happened to Beverley has devastated our lives."

Trudi Banning, 28, from Leamington Spa, was 22 and a soldier when she suffered a blood clot after being on the pill for five years. At the time women were forced to leave the services if they became pregnant.

The clot was in the vein that supplies blood to the intestines. She lost half her bowel, ended up in a coma for nearly two months, and underwent 13 operations. Her wound took years to heal properly, she had internal infections and her ovaries had to be removed, leaving her infertile. She had to leave the army and lives alone with her dog, unable to work.

Beverley Glover, 38, lives in a care home in Sandbach, Cheshire, incapacitated by a severe stroke. Her mind is active but she has limited speech and uses an electric wheelchair to get around.

She had recently changed to Minulet when she suffered a blood clot in her brain stem seven years ago. Her husband Peter had just had a vasectomy and she was about to come off the pill. She spent 14 months in hospital, then moved to a rehabilitation centre, and finally to a Leonard Cheshire home.

She and her husband have since divorced, though they remain friends and he looks after their two daughters, Joanne, 13, and Sarah, 8.