A woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, parent company Johnson & Johnson, Bayer Healthcare and their related companies after her husband fatally succumbed to circumstances surrounding his alleged Xarelto stroke.

Plaintiff Elizabeth C. filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her late husband, Andrew C. According to the complaint, Andrew took Xarelto from Jan. 14 through April 30, 2016.

On April 30, he suffered a massive hemorrhagic cerebral vascular accident as a result of his ingestion of Xarelto, Elizabeth claims. Andrew died the following day after his Xarelto stroke.

Xarelto is an oral anticoagulant designed to thin the blood of patients who are prone to blood clots. In particular, it is used to treat atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that can lead to blood pooling and subsequent clotting.

Patients with atrial fibrillation who go on to develop blood clots may suffer from a stroke or systemic embolism as a result, and Xarelto helps to prevent this.

Additionally, Xarelto is used to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis, a condition where blood clots form in the deep veins in the legs.

Xarelto is also used to prevent and treat a related condition, pulmonary embolism, where a blood clot travels from the deep veins extremities back up to the lungs where it can do severe damage and possibly cause death.

Patients who undergo major surgeries for their knee or hip may also be prescribed Xarelto to prevent blood clots.

The wrongful death lawsuit states that Andrew “suffered various injuries, serious physical pain and suffering, medical and hospital surgical expenses, loss of consortium, and/or death and expenses as a direct result is used Xarelto for which his estate seeks recovery.”

Xarelto was released to the market July 2011 and is a part of the family of drugs known as new oral anticoagulants, or NOACs. Eliquis and Pradaxa also belong to this new class of drugs. These new generation anticoagulants were developed as an alternative to warfarin, the industry standard blood thinner drug for the past 60 years.

The new drugs were designed to be easier to administer with standardized dosing, and they required less frequent monitoring and also did not require patients to adhere to a specific diet while taking the medication – all of which were supposed to be improvements over warfarin’s shortcomings.

What many physicians and patients did not realize was that, in the event it was necessary, there was no antidote that could reverse the blood thinning effects of Xarelto and other NOAC drugs.

If a patient on warfarin experienced internal bleeding, fresh frozen plasma or intravenous vitamin K could be administered to reverse the anticoagulant effects of the drug, allowing the body to begin clotting normally and stop the bleeding on its own.

When the new generation oral anticoagulant drugs were released, there was no antidote. There continues to be no antidote for Xarelto or Eliquis. Pradaxa does have its own reversal agent, but it does not work with Xarelto or Eliquis.

The Xarelto lawsuit goes on to detail that the clinical trials used to study Xarelto’s safety and efficacy were flawed. According to the complaint, important information was omitted from the studies when the results were shared with physicians and the FDA.

As a result, a number of patients like Andrew have suffered from a Xarelto stroke, intracranial bleeding or gastrointestinal bleeding caused by Xarelto. Unfortunately, many of these bleeding events have led to deaths.

Thousands of blood thinner lawsuits have been filed against the makers of Xarelto by patients and their families who were affected by Xarelto stroke and other complications.

Elizabeth has brought forth a number of counts against the manufacturers including strict liability, manufacturing defect, design defect, failure to warn, negligence, breaches of express and implied warranties, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, violation of consumer protection laws, loss of consortium (spousal companionship), wrongful death and survival action.

The plaintiff is seeking a jury trial in the Xarelto stroke lawsuit with the award of compensatory damages and economic damages for medical expenses, pain, suffering, emotional distress, lost earnings and more.

She is also seeking punitive and/or exemplary damages “for the wanton, willful, fraudulent, reckless acts of the Defendants who demonstrated a complete disregard and reckless indifference for the safety and welfare of the general public and to the Plaintiff in an amount sufficient to punish defendants and deter future similar conduct.”

The Xarelto Stroke Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-04594-EF-MBN and is part of the Xarelto MDL In re: Xarelto (rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.