The family of a man who has died due to a Xarelto bleeding injury has filed a lawsuit against Janssen Pharmaceuticals holding them responsible for his death.

Plaintiff Robert R. Jr., of New York, is filing this Xarelto bleeding injury lawsuit on behalf of his deceased father, Robert R. Sr., also of New York.

Robert. Sr. was prescribed Xarelto, a popular anticoagulant, in November 2012. He was prescribed Xarelto for the purpose of reducing the “risk of stroke and systemic embolism in non-valvular atrial fibrillation.”

A few years later, Robert Sr. suffered from a traumatic rupture of a lower extremity varicosity, or varicose vein. This caused his death on Oct. 18, 2015. When Robert Sr. suffered this rupture, he was taking Xarelto.

According to this Xarelto bleeding injury lawsuit, Robert Sr. “suffered and incurred harm including severe pain and suffered personal injuries and incurred damages to include severe pain and suffering, medical expenses and other economic and noneconomic damages.”

His family says that Robert Sr.’s Xarelto bleeding injury was permanent and lasting in nature, that he suffered physical pain and mental anguish and that he experienced a diminished enjoyment of life. He was forced to undergo medical treatment as well as monitoring and additional medications.

His family believes the Xarelto he took was to blame for his death.

Xarelto is a new generation anticoagulant that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July 2011. It was originally approved to treat deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism for patients who have undergone lower extremity joint replacements.

Since its approval, Xarelto has been the subject of thousands of reports of adverse events submitted to the FDA. In fact, in the first year after approval, the FDA received over one thousand Xarelto bleeding injury reports including the deaths of six people.

This Xarelto bleeding injury lawsuit claims that the makers of Xarelto “concealed their knowledge of Xarelto’s defects from the Decedent, the FDA and the general public by representing that Xarelto had been sufficiently tested and been found to be safe and/or effective for its intended use.”

In fact, the lawsuit says, Janssen engaged in an “aggressive, direct-to-consumer and physician marketing and advertising campaigns for Xarelto.” Their sales are expected to reach over $1 billion this year, according to the Xarelto bleeding injury lawsuit.

Indeed, some studies have shown the link between Xarelto use and a Xarelto bleeding injury. The RECORD study and the ROCKET study both show connections between use of Xarelto and bleeding complications.

All anticoagulants carry with them the risk of severe bleeding incidents. However, previous generations of blood thinning medications have antidotes in case of emergency.

In the case of warfarin use, the standard medication before the newer anticoagulants came on the market, vitamin K should be administered to the patient in the case of a bleeding event. Xarelto does not have such a reversal agent.

This Xarelto bleeding injury lawsuit is bringing forth counts of negligence, strict products liability, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation, and wrongful death.

The Xarelto Bleeding Injury Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-10783-EEF-MBN in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.