A Xarelto bleeding lawsuit has joined the mass legal action against Jansen pharmaceuticals over alleged Xarelto complications.

According to the Xarelto bleeding lawsuit, plaintiff Kenneth S. of Alabama was prescribed Xarelto in December 2013.

Xarelto is a blood thinner, a drug designed to make it harder for blood to clot. While blood clotting is a normal part of the healing process, blood can clot inside the body, which can be potentially lethal.

These errant blood clots can block the flow of blood to various blood vessels, causing strokes, pulmonary embolisms, some types of heart attacks, and other serious complications depending on the exact location of the blood clot. Individuals like Kenneth, who are at risk of stroke or other clot-based problems are often prescribed blood-thinners like Xarelto. But Xarelto and other blood thinners may carry the risk of serious Xarelto complications.

Kenneth’s Xarelto lawsuit alleges that the drug caused him to suffer a medical emergency. According to the text of his Xarelto bleeding lawsuit, in October of 2014, less than a year after Kenneth started taking Xarelto, he was rushed to the emergency room.

Kenneth had experienced gastrointestinal bleeding, which is internal bleeding in the digestive tract. Kenneth required emergency treatment for anemia and his gastrointestinal bleeding, according to the Xarelto bleeding lawsuit.

All blood thinners, including Xarelto, carry the risk of uncontrollable bleeding. In uncontrollable bleeding, a blood thinner works too well. When this happens, a patient cannot form blood clots at all. This means a person can lose a dangerous amount of blood from a very minor injury. This can include minor internal injuries, as is the case with gastrointestinal bleeds. While this is a risk with all anticoagulants, Xarelto may have a special risk compared with other blood thinners.

Xarelto has been extensively marketed as being superior to blood thinners that are already on the market. Older anticoagulants like Warfarin work by interfering with vitamin K, which the body uses in the clotting process.

This means that Warfarin patients had to carefully control their diet and avoid foods rich in vitamin K. Additionally, Warfarin patients had to undergo regular blood testing to see how much of an effect the drug was having on their blood. This made sure the drug was working, but not working so well that they risked uncontrollable bleeding.

Xarelto works differently, so patients do not require changes in their diet. Additionally, Xarelto was marketed as not requiring these blood tests, though recent studies have suggested that Xarelto patients could strongly benefit from this type of blood testing.

However, the main problem with Xarelto and other newer-generation blood thinners is that they do not have a known reversal agent. Warfarin’s vitamin K shortcoming could actually work in the drug’s favor during an uncontrollable bleeding event. If a patient on Warfarin does suffer from uncontrollable bleeding, doctors can administer a very high dose of vitamin K to stop it. This effectively “turns off” the drug, allowing a patient to form clots.

When a Xarelto patient suffers uncontrolled bleeding like Kenneth allegedly did, there is not much that doctors can do, other than massive transfusions to try to offset the lack of clotting and keep the patient alive.

The Xarelto Bleeding Lawsuit is Case No. No. 0184, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division. The larger Xarelto Bleeding Lawsuit MDL is In Re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.