Blood Thinner Medication Lawsuit Claims Dangerous Side Effects

A Mississippi woman recently filed a blood thinner medication lawsuit alleging that the drug Xarelto caused her to suffer from a severe gastrointestinal bleed.

Plaintiff Sarah S. recently filed the blood thinner medication lawsuit against Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, and Bayer over claims that Xarelto caused her to experience a life-threatening bleeding event.

Sarah was prescribed Xarelto in July 2015. A week after she began taking the drug, Sarah was allegedly admitted into the hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding.

She was treated for the bleed and reportedly suffered from severe injury. Sarah argues that she was not warned of the risks associated with Xarelto and would not have taken the drug if she was sufficiently warned.

The experienced attorneys at McDonald Worley can assist eligible consumers in seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, wrongful death, and more. Call today for a free case review.

What is Xarelto Prescribed For?

Xarelto (rivoroxaban) is a blood thinning medication often prescribed to reduce the risk of stroke and systematic embolism as well as to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms.

In some cases, Xarelto is prescribed to patients to reduce the chance of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms following a knee or hip replacement surgery.

The anticoagulant works by inhibiting a protein involved in the blood clotting process, interrupting the normal clotting of blood and preventing further proteins in the process from forming.

To compete with warfarin, a blood thinner which has been the industry standard for around 60 years, manufacturers have marketed Xarelto as a better alternative requiring no dietary restriction or blood monitoring.

However, unlike warfarin, Xarelto has not had a reversal agent for the majority of its time on the market.

In May 2018, a reversal agent known as Andexxa was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and should become widely available later this year.

However, this reversal agent does not benefit patients who have already experienced uncontrollable bleeding events.

Sarah’s blood thinner medication lawsuit claims that Xarelto’s boxed warnings do not warn patients of the increased risk for serious and fatal bleeding events or the often irreversible nature of these events.

Despite numerous studies and statements by the FDA supporting the known relation between the drug and irregular bleeding events, their label does not mention the risks. Sarah argues that this is deceptive and represents Xarelto as safer than it actual is.

“Defendants concealed their knowledge that Xarelto can cause life threatening, irreversible bleeding from Plaintiff, other consumers, the medical community and the general public,” the blood thinner medication lawsuit states. “Specifically, Defendants did not adequately inform consumers and the prescribing medical community about the risks of uncontrollable bleeding associated with Xarelto, nor did Defendants warn or otherwise advise on how to provide medical assistance for a patient in the event that bleeding did occur.”

The withholding of information and false representations have allegedly endangered patients who would not have taken the medication had they known the risks.

Sarah claims that this endangerment benefited the manufacturers financially and she seeks to hold them accountable for their alleged deception.

Consumers and families in a situation similar to Sarah may be eligible to file a blood thinner medication lawsuit.

The Xarelto Blood Thinner Medication Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-06566-EEF-MBN and is part of the Xarelto MDL, In re: Xarelto (rivoroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The experienced attorneys at McDonald Worley can assist eligible consumers in seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, wrongful death, and more. Call today for a free case review.