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Family Wins Seven-Figure Settlement in Fresenius Medical Care Wrongful Death Lawsuit
By Sarah Pierce
The FDA’s Class I recall of dialysis drugs GranuFlo and NaturaLyte has shed light on what may have caused the tragic deaths of many kidney dialysis patients. The family of one of these victims, Teresa Gaytan, fought back against the drugs’ manufacturer, Fresenius Medical Care, long before the recall, alleging a series of mistakes at a FMC clinic in Illinois lead to her untimely death. Fresenius Medical Care settled the lawsuit just two months before issuing the GranuFlo/NaturaLyte recall, foreshadowing the legal trouble the company will face from future Fresenius Medical Care lawsuit settlements.
Fresenius Medical Care is the largest operator of hemodialysis treatment centers in the U.S., providing dialysis treatment to over 400,000 Americans each year — roughly one-third of all U.S. kidney dialysis patients. Teresa Gaytan was one of those patients after entering outpatient dialysis treatment from a Fresenius Medical Care center to treat her congestive heart failure and kidney failure.
The 65-year-old mother of five had been living in a nursing home for a year when she decided to continue kidney dialysis treatments at home with her children. Gaytan needed dialysis three days a week, which she arranged through a Fresenius Medical Care in Berwyn, Illinois. On March 5, 2009, during her first week of treatment, Gaytan went in for her third dialysis treatment and never came home. According to her family’s wrongful death lawsuit, a series of mistakes made at Fresenius Medical Care led to her death.
According to the Gaytan family’s Fresenius Medical Care wrongful death lawsuit, these mistakes included letting a Fresenius patient care technician do a reversal of her dialysis lines (which he was not qualified to do), and not properly securing her lines. When Gaytan began hemorrhaging and alarms sounded, the alarms were ignored.
“There were many, many mistakes,” said the Gaytan’s Fresenius Medical Care lawsuit attorney. “But even among those many mistakes, if somebody had done something at one step of the process along the way, that could have turned the whole thing around.”
To this day, the family says, Fresenius Medical Care has not provided answers about what happened to their mom. The company eventually offered a seven-figure lawsuit settlement to the Gaytans, but has admitted no wrongdoing.
For families like the Gaytans who are trying to piece together the events of their loved one’s tragic death, turning to a legal expert experienced in these issues is often their only hope for getting answers.
If your loved one died or suffered serious injuries following hemodialysis treatment at a Fresenius Medical Care clinic or after receiving GranuFlo or NaturaLyte dialysis drugs, you may have a case to seek compensation through a Fresenius Medical Care wrongful death lawsuit settlement.
Get answers by visiting the Kidney Dialysis Heart Attack, GranuFlo & NaturaLyte Recall Class Action Lawsuit Settlement & Investigation. You’ll learn more about the GranuFlo recall and how Fresenius Medical Care knew about hundreds of kidney patient deaths at its clinics but concealed this information from the FDA. While you’re there, fill out a short form to receive a free, no obligation consultation from a kidney dialysis attorney. If you have a case, you’ll be advised on the best course of legal action for pursuing a Fresenius Medical Care lawsuit settlement.
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Updated September 21st, 2012
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