The surviving spouse of a man who died from uncontrollable bleeding after using Xarelto has filed a Xarelto lawsuit against the drug’s manufacturer’s alleging the drug makers were ultimately responsible for the death.

The Xarelto lawsuit was filed by Plaintiff Arttie V. of Missouri after her husband, William V., died after using Xarelto. William took the drug starting on Dec. 6, 2012 due to deep vein thrombosis. According to the Xarelto lawsuit, he took the drug for less than two days before he suffered a life-threatening gastrointestinal bleed, which took his life quickly.

Xarelto is a type of drug called an anticoagulant, or blood-thinner. Many serious medical problems are caused by blood clots forming within the body, blocking critical blood vessels. This causes strokes and some type of heart attacks, depending on where the clot lodges. Drugs like Xarelto can reduce this risk, by reducing the body’s ability to form blood clots. However, all anticoagulants carry the risk of working too well, leading to severe bleeding from very minor injuries. This can include pulmonary bleeding in the lungs and gastrointestinal bleeding in the digestive tract—the type of event that allegedly killed William.

This Xarelto lawsuit alleges that the makers of Xarelto were aware—or reasonably should have been aware—of the serious risk of complications like Xarelto bleeding events associated with Xarelto. These lawsuits allege that as many as one in 10 patients using the drug may experience a Xarelto bleeding event. Additionally, Xarelto lawsuits allege that older anticoagulants may be safer alternatives to newer drugs like Xarelto.

Older anticoagulants like Warfarin and relatives have known reversal agents that can effectively turn off the anticoagulant if a patient experiences a gastrointestinal bleeding. In the case of Warfarin, a very high dose of vitamin K can stop the drug from working. Xarelto lawsuits like this one hold that this makes Xarelto inherently more dangerous than other drugs.

The Xarelto bleeding lawsuit further contends that in spite of these risks, the makers of Xarelto have spent millions of dollars promoting Xarelto through various forms of advertising. This has allegedly paid off for the drug’s manufacturers, as more than a million Xarelto prescriptions have been written worldwide, and Xarelto sales made hundreds of millions in drug revenue for drug makers.

The Xarelto Bleeding Lawsuit is Case No. 4:14-cv-01086, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.