A woman filed an Eliquis side effects lawsuit alleging that the blood thinner caused her husband to suffer from the gastrointestinal bleeding, which led to his death.

Plaintiff Deborah H. attributes her husband Donald’s death to a failure on the part of Pfizer Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb to adequately warn patients and doctors of the risk of Eliquis side effects such as excessive bleeding. She says Donald began taking Eliquis in August 2014 for his atrial fibrillation. He died in October 2014 of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Eliquis is an anticoagulant medication used to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. It’s also approved to prevent deep vein thrombosis following hip or knee surgery, to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to prevent those conditions from recurring.

Eliquis is one of a new generation of anticoagulants that recently entered a market dominated for years by one blood thinner medication, warfarin (also sold under the brand name Coumadin). Like the other new blood thiner medications, Eliquis is marketed as having an advantage over warfarin because it does not require the same ongoing monitoring of blood levels and adjustment of dosage that warfarin requires.

However, Eliquis has one significant drawback that warfarin does not: it has no antidote. Excessive bleeding that results from warfarin can be controlled by administering vitamin K. However, there is no medication that can reverse the anticoagulatory effect of Eliquis. Once Eliquis side effects like excessive bleeding starts, the patient can only stop taking the drug and wait for the body to finish metabolizing it.

Deborah’s Eliquis side effects lawsuit alleges that at the time Donald was taking Eliquis, neither the drug’s label nor the promotional material provided to Donald’s physician warned them adequately about the lack of an effective antidote.

The Eliquis lawsuit also alleges malfeasance in some of the clinical trials used to determine the safety and efficacy of Eliquis before it was made available to patients. She says in one study, the ARISTOTLE study, researchers concealed Eliquis side effects reported with the blood thinner medication. One death allegedly went unreported.

Deborah also alleges the researchers changed or falsified certain records and that certain records went missing immediately before a site visit by FDA agents.

The Eliquis side effects lawsuit raises claims based on negligence, strict liability for a defective product, breach of warranty, misrepresentation, concealment of vital safety information, fraud, and violation of state consumer protection laws.

Deborah is bringing these claims as a survival action on behalf of Donald’s estate, seeking compensation for the harm Donald suffered prior to his death. She is also bringing her own claim for wrongful death, which would compensate her for the harm she suffered herself.

For compensation, Deborah seeks a damages award to cover pain, suffering, emotional harm, medical expenses, and lost earnings. She also seeks an award of punitive damages based on the allegedly “wanton, willful, fraudulent,” and “reckless” actions on the part of Bristsol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer.

This Eliquis Side Effects Lawsuit is Case No. 1:15-cv-04620 pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.