A Florida widow has filed a dangerous drug lawsuit against the maker of Xarelto, claiming the blood thinning drug caused the wrongful death of her husband.

Plaintiff Betty H., the widow of Ronald H., filed the Xarelto lawsuit against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, its parent company Johnson & Johnson and affiliated companies over the alleged injury caused by her late husband Ronald’s Xarelto usage.

Ronald began taking Xarelto in November 2012 through January 2013. In January 2013, Ronald suffered from severe gastrointestinal bleeding attributed to Xarelto use.

He was hospitalized and had a number of surgeries and procedures for two months. Ronald’s bleeding incident turned fatal and he entered hospice care and died in May 2013.

Betty is suing both for personal injury to her husband as well as related loss of consortium. She brings forth eight counts against the defendants, including negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation, and negligent failure to issue a timely post-sale warning. She has demanded a jury trial for this case.

Additionally, the Xarelto lawsuit is a tag-along action to the Xarelto MDL currently pending under District Court Judge Eldon E. Fallon in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

What is Xarelto?

Xarelto is an anticoagulant used to prevent blood clots in patients who are at risk. The drug was FDA approved in July 2011 for prevention of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) for patients who were undergoing hip or knee replacement surgeries.

In November of the same year, it was also approved to reduce stroke risk and systemic embolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

Xarelto is considered a new generation anticoagulant medication. For many years, the only blood thinning anticoagulant in wide use was warfarin. Warfarin performed well in patients, but did require a lot of monitoring by the physician and patients had to maintain certain dietary restrictions while taking the drug.

Xarelto and other recently developed anticoagulants seemed to be a great addition to allow physicians to administer a medication that did not have the special considerations that warfarin had, thus simplifying patient care.

Complications of Xarelto Use

The most common and most severe complication of Xarelto use is severe internal bleeding. Because Xarelto causes the blood to thin, the natural clotting mechanism to stop bleeds is disrupted and is essentially overridden. Internal bleeds can occur in number of locations in the body, such as in the lungs, gastrointestinal organs, inside the brain or elsewhere.

Warfarin also had bleeding as a known complication of use. However, warfarin had a reversal agent to stop bleeding from progressing once it began. Fresh frozen plasma and vitamin K were used as an antidote to curtail the bleeding.

Xarelto has no antidote, so it is not possible to effectively stop a bleed once it starts. Prolonged Xarelto bleeding can cause severe organ damage, and as in Betty’s husband’s case, it can also be fatal.

Xarelto Lawsuit Information

If you or a loved one has suffered from gastrointestinal bleeding, pulmonary bleeding, intracranial bleeding or other bleeding or if a loved one has died from use of Xarelto, you may be entitled to legal compensation.

While no Xarelto class action lawsuit litigation is available, individuals my join a multidistrict litigation or file a Xarelto lawsuit individually. A confidential consultation with a Xarelto lawyer can help you decide your best course of action.

The Xarelto Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-01676-EEF-MBN and is part of the Xarelto MDL No. 2529 In Re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 2:14-md-02592, in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans.