A Pradaxa internal bleeding lawsuit has been filed against drug manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals by the surviving nine children of a deceased Louisiana father.

Plaintiff Louis O. filed the Pradaxa lawsuit on behalf of himself and his siblings after their father Anthony O. died allegedly from Pradaxa complications.

Pradaxa Lawsuit Allegations

According to the Pradaxa lawsuit, the deceased was taking Pradaxa to treat atrial fibrillation, which is a medical condition that affects more than 2 million U.S. residents. Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is a disease that typically has an impact on aging populations and its prevalence increases with age.

Louis and his siblings claim that neither his father nor the treating physician were aware that there was no Pradaxa antidote should an internal bleeding event occur.

The Pradaxa bleeding lawsuit alleges that manufacturer Boehringer “willfully, wantonly and with malice withheld the knowledge of increased risk of irreversible bleeds in users of Pradaxa to prevent any chances of their product’s registrations being delayed or rejected by FDA.”

Futhermore, the Pradaxa lawsuit states that in January 2012, after thousands of Pradaxa consumers were injured or died, the manufacturer initiated an “extremely modest, and wholly inadequate, label change.” The plaintiffs allege that the irreversible nature of bleeding events associated with the anticoagulant was buried in small print on the fifth and sixth page of the drug’s “warnings and precautions.”

The plaintiffs’ father died in Sept. 2014. His children are collectively seeking $75,000 in financial compensation for the loss of enjoyment of Anthony’s life and for the grief and mental anguish they have each suffered from due to his death.

Pradaxa Bleeding Risk

Pradaxa was the first new blood thinner introduced on the U.S. market since Warfarin (Coumadin) which dominated the anticoagulant field for nearly 60 years. The medication is primarily used to reduce the risk of stroke and blood clots in patients with atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem.

Since its FDA approval in 2010, Pradaxa has been prescribed to nearly nine million patients. However, thousands have reported that the blood thinner caused severe injuries or fatalities. This is largely in part due to a lack of a bleeding reversal agent.

Unlike Coumadin users who can receive a large dose of vitamin K to stop a bleeding episode, Pradaxa patients are forced to undergo multiple blood transfusions, as the only way to stop the internal bleeding is to get the medication out of their system.

According to a recent clinical trial, Pradaxa carries a higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and a similar rate of major bleeding events when compared to Warfarin.

Pradaxa Bleeding Lawsuits

A growing number of Pradaxa internal bleeding lawsuits claim that the side effects of Pradaxa are not worth the risk. In general, the majority of Pradaxa lawsuits claim that manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals knew or should have known about the internal bleeding risks but downplayed it in order to boost sales.

Contact a Pradaxa attorney to find out if you should file a lawsuit as an individual or if it would be better to join a Pradaxa class action lawsuit.

The Pradaxa Internal Bleeding Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-04064-SM-SS in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.