A Texas woman has filed a Benicar wrongful death lawsuit after her husband died following treatment with the blood pressure medication.

Barbara D. is suing Benicar makers Daiichi Sankyo and Forest Laboratories for the death of her husband Ken, who started taking Benicar (olmesartan) in May 2007.

He passed away after enduring unrelenting diarrhea, abdominal pain, dehydration, confusion and multi-organ failure.

According to the Benicar wrongful death lawsuit, he also experienced significant weight loss, diverticulosis, olmesartan-associated enteropathy and death as a result of Benicar.

Benicar Wrongful Death Lawsuit Exposes Side Effects

On its website, Benicar lists side effects that include kidney problems and severe, chronic diarrhea with considerable weight loss. These symptoms may develop months to years after starting Benicar.

Olmesartan-associated enteropathy is a disease that mimics Celiac disease because symptoms include severe, chronic diarrhea and substantial weight loss. A blood test can rule out Celiac disease as the root cause.

The enteropathy can lead to villous atrophy. The walls of the intestines are covered by villi, which are tiny tentacles that absorb nutrients in the foods we eat.

Villous atrophy means those villi have eroded away and the insides of the intestines are so smooth, they can no longer absorb nutrients. This leads to malnutrition.

In July 2013, the FDA instructed Benicar to add a warning that side effects could include sprue-like enteropathy, also known as olmesartan-associated enteropathy.

Benicar Wrongful Death Lawsuit Backed by Research Results

The FDA’s decision to add the sprue-like enteropathy warning was due in large part to a study done by the Mayo Clinic, where tests showed none of the patients suffering from what had been presumed to Celiac disease actually had it.

The common denominator was that they were all taking Benicar. Fourteen of the 22 patients examined ended up in the hospital with gastrointestinal complications.

The American Journal of Gastroenterology published a report in May 2013 that said patients who were negative for Celiac disease were ultimately proven to have villous atrophy from their Benicar use. Once the patients stopped taking Benicar, they were able to gain weight and symptoms lessened in their severity.

Benicar Issues Relatively New in the Legal System

Benicar wrongful death lawsuits are relatively new to the legal system because it has taken years for severe gastrointestinal complications to develop in Benicar users. Many patients such as Ken have died not knowing at the time that Benicar was the root cause of his life-threatening symptoms.

Studies confirming the link between Benicar and sprue-like enteropathy, severe diarrhea, malnutrition and kidney problems now back up many of the allegations.

The Benicar Wrongful Death Lawsuit is Case No 1:33-av-02606 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Camden Vicinage.