Johnson & Johnson and Bayer HealthCare are facing major product liability allegations from a grieving son alleging his mother died from a Xarelto injury.

The man claims that as a direct result of the Xarelto injury, his mother suffered an internal bleeding incident that had ultimately contributed to her death.

Florida Plaintiff Michael R. is filing this Xarelto lawsuit on behalf of his late mother, Geraldine R. who had been prescribed Xarelto to prevent blood clot events.

From November 2014 to February 2015, Geraldine had used Xarelto according to prescription instructions and did not deviate from the medication’s intended use. Typically Xarelto is prescribed to patients suffering from atrial fibrillation, who are at high risk for experiencing stroke.

Overview of Xarelto Bleeding Allegations

Xarelto was approved by the FDA in 2011, and was released as a joint effort between Bayer HealthCare and Johnson & Johnson. This drug was released just a year after Pradaxa, which was the first blood thinning medication to be released in the United States since the release of warfarin in the 1960s.

As a member of the new generation anticoagulant drug family, Xarelto was marketed to be more convenient and efficient than warfarin. However around the time of Xarelto’s release, numerous patients were alleging serious internal bleeding injuries allegedly caused by the earlier-released Pradaxa.

Like other anticoagulants, Xarelto works by inhibiting the body’s clotting ability and improving the circulation of blood flow. However this treatment mechanism also shuts down the body’s natural ability to recover from minor internal bleeding injuries, which can quickly turn fatal.

Even though she was diligent in following prescription instructions and her physician’s advice, Geraldine had suffered an internal bleeding incident on Dec. 20, 2014, according to the Xarelto lawsuit. Not long after her Xarelto injury, she had suffered sudden death on Feb. 25, 2015.

Michael is filing legal action on behalf of his deceased mother, stating that she never would have taken Xarelto if she had known the risk of internal bleeding complications. At the time of his mother’s death, only warfarin had a widely available reversal agent in the case of internal bleeding injury.

Even though Xarelto has no approved bleeding antidote, the manufacturing companies allegedly failed to warn patients against potentially fatal Xarelto injury. Michael alleges the pharmaceutical giants knew of the drug’s lethal complications but did nothing to warn his mother or other Xarelto patients.

Michael’s Xarelto lawsuit is part of the Xarelto multidistrict litigation (MDL) No. 2592, joining other product liability claims alleging similar injuries.

The Xarelto Injury Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-00343-EEF-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern of Louisiana.