Although Xarelto was approved for use in 2011 and is one of the newest blood thinners on the market, it is also the subject of lawsuits alleging that the blood thinner puts patients at risk for dangerous side effects, including life-threatening internal bleeding.

In fact, one recently filed blood thinner lawsuit joined the multidistrict litigation (MDL) against the makers of Xarelto, Bayer Healthcare and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, wherein 24 plaintiffs collectively claim that the drug caused serious bleeding events and even death.

In this Xarelto blood thinner lawsuit, North Carolina plaintiff Tandy B. alleges the companies downplayed the risk of serious gastrointestinal bleeding caused by the blood thinner, accusing the drug makers of deliberately concealing the potentially fatal side effect.

According to her Xarelto blood thinner lawsuit, Tandy used Xarelto as prescribed for approximately one month in 2014 when she then experienced serious gastrointestinal bleeding.

Tandy claims the drug should not be sold and that Bayer and Janssen negligently promoted Xarelto as safe when they allegedly knew the blood thinner could cause serious gastrointestinal bleeding.

About Xarelto

Xarelto (rivaroxaban) was first approved by the FDA in July of 2011 as a prescription medicine with three primary uses: to reduce the risk of blood clots and stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to reduce the risk of blood clots in patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery.

Xarelto belongs to a class of anticoagulants called direct factor Xa inhibitors. Sometimes referred to as blood thinners, anticoagulants interfere with the normal clotting of the blood.

Clotting is essential if a person is to stop bleeding from an open wound, but some people experience clotting when they are not injured. Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition characterized by an irregular heartbeat that can cause blood to pool in the heart and may lead to clots.

If these travel to the brain, they may cause a stroke. Blood clots that develop in the legs (deep vein thrombosis) and pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs) can cause serious complications and/or death if left untreated.

Signs of Gastrointestinal Bleeding

When taking an anticoagulant drug like Xarelto, gastrointestinal bleeds can occur both in the upper and lower GI tract, posing a serious risk to the patient. If left untreated, the gastrointestinal bleed may continue unabated, ultimately reaching a critical point when blood loss becomes severe.

Regarded as a relatively common complication of Xarelto, gastrointestinal bleeding can result in hospitalization and in some cases, death.

Signs of gastrointestinal bleeding associated with Xarelto can take a number of different forms, including:

• abdominal pain
• a hard abdomen
• vomiting blood
• bloody stool
• black, tar-like stool
• very pale complexion
• extreme tiredness
• fainting

Xarelto users experiencing the above signs of gastrointestinal bleeding should seek medical treatment immediately.

Xarelto Blood Thinner Lawsuits

The FDA reports that more than 1,800 adverse events have been linked to Xarelto. The most common events were pulmonary embolism (386 reports), deep vein thrombosis (279 reports), serious gastrointestinal bleeding (107 reports) and hemorrhage (107 reports). Hospitalization was reported in 891 of these events and 183 of the patients lost their lives.

If you or a loved one has experienced serious gastrointestinal bleeding or other Xarelto bleeding side effects, it is critical to understand your legal rights in order to recover for any and all damages suffered. An experienced Xarelto attorney can carefully evaluate the facts of your particular situation and effectively pursue appropriate legal action to compensate you for your losses.

The Xarelto Blood Thinner Lawsuit is part of the Xarelto MDL, In re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.