Johnson & Johnson and Bayer HealthCare are facing a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) consisting of claims alleging problems with the new generation blood thinner Xarelto. One of the most recent additions to the litigation comes from an Oklahoma woman, alleging the blood thinner Xarelto had been the direct cause of her mother’s death.

Plaintiff Greta D. is filing this wrongful death claim on behalf of her mother Margaret A., alleging her mother died due to complications related to the blood thinner Xarelto. The complications Margaret had suffered were reportedly not listed on the Xarelto side effects label, nor did the manufacturing companies provide any such disclosures.

According to the Xarelto death lawsuit, Margaret had been prescribed the medication in January 2016 to treat her atrial fibrillation. This is a typical treatment purpose for the blood thinner Xarelto, which is commonly prescribed to patients at high risk for stroke or other blood clot complications.

Xarelto and other blood thinners work by inhibiting the body’s clotting mechanism. However, this treatment mechanism also inhibits the body from being able to recover from internal bleeding injuries, which can quickly turn fatal under these conditions.

This was reportedly the case with Margaret, who had to be hospitalized on March 20, 2016, for intracerebral hemorrhage. Even with emergency intervention, the lawsuit says, Margaret died from these complications and left her daughter to later find out the correlation between internal bleeding events and the blood thinner Xarelto.

Greta filed legal action against the pharmaceutical giants not long after discovering the correlation between the blood thinner Xarelto and potentially fatal internal bleeding problems.

Overview of Xarelto Bleeding Problems

A joint effort between pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson and Bayer HealthCare, Xarelto was approved by the FDA in 2011. This drug came into the market just a year after Pradaxa, which was the first medication to be released for anticoagulant purpose since warfarin in the 1950s.

Xarelto and other new generation blood thinners quickly overtook warfarin in popularity, because of their convenient single dose prescription feature. In contrast, patients prescribed warfarin have to undergo frequent dose adjustments from their doctors.

Warfarin, however, features a vital safety component that can help prevent internal bleeding problems. In the case of internal bleeding complications, warfarin patients implement vitamin K to resolve it. Currently, Xarelto patients have to undergo emergency medical procedures to prevent death in the case of internal bleeding, as there is no reversal agent.

Even though these Xarelto bleeding complications can be potentially fatal to patients, Johnson & Johnson and Bayer HealthCare allegedly failed to warn the general public. Greta states that if her mother had known the risk of potentially fatal internal bleeding injuries, she would not have agreed to take the blood thinner Xarelto.

Greta’s Xarelto wrongful death lawsuit is joining MDL No. 2592, where it will stand alongside other claims alleging patients suffered similar injuries from the blood thinner. By joining the MDL, Greta’s claim will be streamlined through the litigation process and will avoid potential problems like conflicting rulings from different judges.

This Xarelto Wrongful Death Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-02949-EEF-MBN, in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Louisiana.