Joanna Szabo  |  August 26, 2016

Category: Legal News

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Blood Transfusion

Coumadin, also known as warfarin, had been the main anticoagulant across the U.S. for decades. Blood thinners like Coumadin are used to treat blood clots, as well as decrease an atrial fibrillation patient’s risk of stroke.

Blood thinners like these are used to stop blood clots from growing and spreading, allowing the body to dissolve the clots over time without being faced by growing clots.

However, in recent years, a number of newer anticoagulants have begun to replace Coumadin as the go-to anticoagulant for blood clot treatment.

These new anticoagulants include Pradaxa (dabigatran), Eliquis (apixaban), Xarelto (rivaroxaban), and Savaysa (edoxaban). These drugs have been found to be as effective as Coumadin, so many people are choosing to make the switch, but there are questions as to blood thinner safety.

Blood Thinner Safety

A basic understanding of blood thinner safety is essential when you or someone you love is taking an anticoagulant.

Common blood thinner side effects include:

  • Nausea
  • Easy bruising
  • Minor bleeding (such as a nosebleed)

Different kinds of anticoagulants use different methods of combatting blood clots, and so countermeasures to reverse their effects vary.

The most common major side effect of any anticoagulant (not just Coumadin) is bleeding, or even excessive bleeding. When medications like Coumadin prevent the body from forming blood clots, they also create a problem in case of emergency like an accident or emergency surgery. In these cases, there may be excessive bleeding.

In general, when the body is faced with excessive bleeding, its automatic defense mechanism is to develop blood clots to slow the bleeding, which allows time for medical attention to arrive.

However, if the body is unable to clot properly because a patient has been taking blood thinners, their bleeding may become dangerous or even fatal in a situation that would otherwise have been reversible.

Because anticoagulants are essential to combatting dangerous blood clots and preventing strokes, patients should not avoid these drugs, but instead use basic blood thinner safety knowledge, especially knowledge of antidotes.

Since Coumadin works by interfering with the body’s vitamin K, vitamin K is used as an antidote to reverse the blood thinning effects of the drug in an emergency.

When Pradaxa and other newer drugs were first introduced to the anticoagulant market, they came without any kind of reversal agent or antidote. Now, antidotes have been developed, or are being developed, that can be used in an emergency.

Blood Thinner Safety Lawsuits

According to some researchers, the newer anticoagulants like Pradaxa are linked with fewer brain bleeds and hemorrhaging than Coumadin. However, according to patients who have suffered severe side effects from these drugs, it isn’t worth the risk.

Some patients have filed blood thinner safety lawsuits over some of these newer drugs, claiming that the drug’s manufacturers failed to adequately warn the public and the medical community about the drug’s extreme bleeding risks.

This is especially true for patients who were prescribed one of these blood thinners prior to an effective antidote being made available.

Filing a blood thinner safety lawsuit cannot take away the physical or emotional effects of these complications, and cannot bring a loved one back, but it can at least help with financial needs plaintiffs may suffer through medical expenses or lost wages.

If you or someone you know has taken Pradaxa or another of these new anticoagulants and experienced severe blood thinner side effects as a result, you may be able to file a blood thinner safety lawsuit.

In general, Pradaxa lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The Pradaxa attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Pradaxa class action lawsuit is best for you. Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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