A new lawsuit filed in Louisiana federal court says that Xarelto medication side effects are implicated in the serious injury of the plaintiff, Karen K.. The plaintiff, a resident of the City of San Diego, claims in her lawsuit that Xarelto medication side effects are to blame for three separate instances of serious injury occurring within a one-month time frame.

According to the plaintiff’s claim against Janssen Research and Development, Johnson & Johnson, and the Bayer Co., the blood-thinning medication was prescribed to her for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a condition characterized by uncoordinated beating of the heart between the upper and lower cardiac chambers.

Karen K. alleges she began taking the drug on Dec. 1, 2012 and experienced her first injury as a direct consequence of Xarelto medication side effects 12 days later. On Dec. 12, 2012, she started coughing up blood in a condition known as hemoptysis.

On Dec. 23, 2012, Karen K. says she experienced internal bleeding which required her to be hospitalized. Later that same day, she went into respiratory arrest.

Because of these injuries which she alleges directly link to Xarelto medication side effects, Karen was admitted to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista, Calif. and was subjected to a necessary blood transfusion process.

She experienced significant pain and suffering, according to the Xarelto medication side effects lawsuit, and has been saddled with economic setbacks in the form of bills for her medical care and hospitalization.

Karen K. alleges that the defendants, who collectively developed, manufactured, distributed, and promoted Xarelto, pushed a defectively designed product on the market. She claims that they are strictly liable for this manufacturing defect and her resulting Xarelto medication side effects.

Karen K. asserts through her counsel that the defendants were negligent because they failed to warn her, other patients, and the medical professional community of Xarelto medication side effects. She brings a total of ten counts against them in this lawsuit and demands a jury trial to address these questions of liability.

Karen is requesting that compensatory and economic damages be awarded to her for her physical and emotional pain and suffering as well as financial burdening in the form of medical and hospital bills.

She asks for the inclusion of consideration for her attorney and court fees and prejudgment and postjudgment interest. Finally, she asks for punitive damages to be assessed against the defendants in punishment for their alleged acts of negligence and recklessness.

Xarelto and Other NOACs

Xarelto was approved in 2011 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is part of a class of medications known as the New Anticoagulants (NOACs) which were created to compete with warfarin, an established blood-thinning used for six decades successfully. Other NOACs include Pradaxa and Eliquis.

In the first quarter of 2012, all three of these NOACs were implicated in reports to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) 1,734 times. Of these reported cases, 233 patients died.

Uncontrolled internal bleeding is the most commonly reported of the Xarelto medication side effects and the subject of numerous product liability lawsuits. Xarelto was commercially released without an antidote for its blood-thinning effects, making the experience of internal bleeding all the more frighteningly dangerous.

The Xarelto Medication Side Effects Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-02347-EEF-MBN, in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana.