The older a postmenopausal woman is, the more likely hormone therapy will increase her risk of heart disease, especially if she is still having hot flashes.

Using estrogens and progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, or blood clots.

Nancey Land says she has no family history of breast cancer. So the 54-year-old Columbia woman was shocked in 1999 when a routine mammogram turned up five suspicious spots on one of her breasts. Biopsies on three spots found all of them to be cancerous.

A Philadelphia jury blasted the drug maker Wyeth yesterday for failing to warn a patient about breast-cancer risks of its hormone drug Prempro and awarded the Ohio woman and her husband $3 million in damages.

Getting sued seems to be the price of doing business for Big Pharma, and Wyeth has once again joined the ranks of the defendants.