NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- What would you think if you found out a drug given at many Nashville hospitals to induce labor is specifically labeled not to be used on pregnant women?

Video: Drug Used To Induce Labor Despite Warnings

A 20-year-old ulcer drug that's become a drug of choice for starting labor is supported by some doctors, but many women want it gone.

The medicine that's become so popular is an anti-ulcer drug called Cytotec.

The manufacturer of the drug warns against it for speeding up childbirth, and the Food and Drug Administration has never approved it for that purpose and has issued an alert against using it in childbirth.

The red cap and front label state that Cytotec is not for pregnant women, but nearly every day, the stomach pill is used in a different way to induce labor.

“I don't know anyone in the middle Tennessee area who doesn't use Cytotec in one way or another,” said obstetrician and gynocologist Dr. Jeffrey Lodge.

Brenda Spain was a week overdue with her first child and said she also had high blood pressure when doctors induced labor by inserting a vaginal dose of Cytotec.

“I can’t really remember if it was two or three pills into the ordeal that they figured out Samuel wasn't handling this and I wasn't either,” Spain said.

Hansi Holloway had given birth twice before and said she thought she knew what to expect. She said after swallowing Cytotec, everything felt different.

“The pain was so absolutely overwhelming, I can’t even describe. … The only visual I can give is like the movie 'Alien' where something was clawing out of someone’s stomach,” Holloway said.

Maddy Oden said her daughter, Tatia, told her to leave the hospital for the night and that everything would be fine with the birth of her long awaited granddaughter.

She said she never saw the mother or child alive again.

“She still had a Tracheotomy tube in and the baby had tubes. I had to close her eyes,” Oden said.

All three families sued claiming Cytotec caused or contributed to the outcomes.

Holloway’s son, Andrew, spent a week on life support but later died.

“The first time I ever saw my son was in a Polaroid picture completely brain dead,” she said.

Spain’s son, Samuel, is now 9.

“He has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, learning disabilities. … (There was) delay in walking, talking, motor function, hearing loss and lazy eye,” said Spain. “People should know what they’re stepping into because I didn't realize. I just didn't think about it.”

Patients have said that at many Nashville hospitals, doctors gave them no indication that there’s a controversy about using Cytotec to induce birth. People have to Google it to know there’s a controversy.

Ina May Gaskin is a veteran midwife of 36 years and 1,000 births and said most of the mothers she sees have their babies naturally without pain medicine and without being induced.

“With any kind of induction where you’re really revving up the uterus and making it work harder than it would on its own, you run some risk,” she said.

There's also the risk that comes from cutting a pill to get the appropriate dose.

Doctors said pills are not supposed to be cut into pieces because there is no guarantee the active agent is evenly distributed.

“We use so many medicines off label, but Cytotec today is within the standard of care for obstetrics,” Lodge said.

Unlike intravenous therapy, pills can't be cut off, and the effects wear off less quickly, and Cytotec doesn’t seem to wear off quickly in women, Gaskin said.

“I’m not saying every woman is in danger. I don't think that. It’s just the Russian Roulette aspect of it because we’re not able to tell which women are gonna have this long latent reaction or ultra sensitivity some people seem to have,” Gaskin said.

Off-label use of drugs is also fairly common. For example, doctors now prescribe aspirin to prevent heart disease.

But critics said this is an entirely different situation that deserves much more study and scrutiny.

The families featured in this story all filed lawsuits over the use of Cytotec by their doctors and hospitals.

One case settled out of court, another failed but is being appealed and the third case has yet to go to trial.

---

Related Links:

For more information on the drug Cytotec, click here.

Click here for the Tatia Oden French Foundation.

Click here for the Ronald Andrew Holloway Foundation.

Click here for Ina May Gaskin’s Safe Motherhood Project.

---