A California woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against drug giants Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, alleging Xarelto side effects caused the death of her father.

Plaintiff Barbara E. has filed the wrongful death Xarelto lawsuit on behalf of her deceased father, Warren E., against the manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) and the co-marketer of the blood thinner Xarelto, Bayer Healthcare.

This complaint alleges these companies failed to disclose the truth about the safety and efficacy of Xarelto to patients and physicians.

Drug Companies Hid Xarelto Side Effects

According to the Xarelto lawsuit, Warren began taking Xarelto around May 2014 upon direction of his physician to reduce his risk of stroke and systemic embolism due to his atrial fibrillation.

Less than a month of ingesting Xarelto, Warren suffered from rectal bleeding, which required him to be hospitalized and receive medical treatment until May 18, 2014 when he passed away.

The Xarelto lawsuit claims that both Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals knew of the Xarelto side effects, and rather than take the steps to pull the drug off the market, provide strong warnings, or create an antidote, they continued to promote Xarelto as a safe and effective treatment for atrial fibrillation.

The Xarelto lawsuit further accuses the drug companies of deliberately concealing their knowledge that Xarelto can cause life threatening irreversible bleeds from public consumers and medical community and also failed to adequately warn about the lack of an antidote to reverse uncontrolled Xarelto bleeding.

Barbara has asked for her wrongful death case to be included in the Xarelto multidistrict litigation (or Xarelto MDL) currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Xarelto Bleeding Risks

Approved by the FDA in 2011, Xarelto is one of the newest anticoagulants (blood thinners) on the drug market today. It has been widely prescribed to prevent blood clots in patients suffering deep vein thrombosis (blood clots deep within the body).

Generally, Xarelto is prescribed as an alternative to warfarin (Coumadin), a blood thinner used as far back as 1954. The most serious potential side effect of Xarelto is severe internal bleeding that can result in patient death. What is even more alarming is that there is no known cure to reverse the type of internal bleeding caused by Xarelto.

Xarelto still does not have a “black box” warning informing patients or prescribing doctors that Xarelto side effects can cause irreversible bleeds. In fact, a label change as recent as March 2014 still fails to contain this type of warning on Xarelto packaging or advertising.

Xarelto Side Effects Lawsuits

Barbara’s Xarelto lawsuit is seeking damages for medical, incidental and hospital along with consequential, compensatory, and punitive damages for Janssen Pharmaceutical’s and Bayer’s alleged deceptive marketing practices, putting profits before consumer safety, and directly causing the death of Warren by their negligent actions.

The filed complaint indicates a demand for a jury trial for this case.

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