Widow Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Fresenius

Widow Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Fresenius

By Amanda Antell

Tennessee resident Cindy Cox is suing Fresenius Medical Company for the wrongful death of her husband, Gurney Cox, who died from a heart injury after receiving GranuFlo during dialysis at a Fresenius clinic. The plaintiff is suing the company for manufacturing, developing, distributing, and selling a dangerous product to her husband and the general public.

Mr. Cox was 57 years old when he received his fatal dialysis treatment on March 2, 2009, at a Newport, Tennessee, Fresenius dialysis clinic. After he received the dialysis mixture, he suffered a heart attack and was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died in. Cox was pronounced dead on March 3, 2009, according to the GranuFlo lawsuit.

The plaintiff alleges that this loss was completely preventable if Fresenius had given them any warning about the possible side effects of their dialysis products GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, and had they been, her husband would not have taken the product.

The Fresenius Death Cover-Up

Cox alleges in the GranuFlo lawsuit that the defendants made no effort to warn her husband or his physicians about the possible side effect of sudden cardiac death linked to its products GranuFlo and NaturaLyte. In fact, the defendants allegedly suppressed the information to insure that their profit margin wouldn’t go down in sales. This was later revealed when an internal company email was exposed in an earlier court session.

The email was separate from an internal memo that was leaked to the FDA in November 2011, which revealed Fresenius executives had proper knowledge to these side effects but made no effort to inform non-Fresenius clinics or physicians. Despite the amount of sudden cardiac deaths reported in the Fresenius clinics, company officials did not report these findings to the FDA.

The internal memo stated:

“The current analysis determined that: ‘borderline elevated predialysis bicarbonate levels and other alkalosis are significantly associated with 6x to 8x greater increase of cardiopulmonary arrest and sudden cardiac death in the dialysis facility…in light of these troubling findings, we strongly recommend that physicians adjust dialysate bicarbonate prescriptions monthly for individual patients, with immediate attention to patients with serum pre-dialysis bicarbonate level needs to be addressed urgently.”

Later that year, on March 27, 2012, the FDA sent an inquiry to Fresenius about their GranuFlo-related products; this was less than a year after the internal memo was leaked. In the document, the FDA criticized Fresenius for acting irresponsibly toward the dialysis clinics the company did not own and did not properly inform physicians who did not work for them. Furthermore, the information they had given about GranuFlo was purposefully ambiguous, inaccurate, and did not discuss the most at-risk population of all, which are acute dialysis patients, the GranuFlo lawsuit states.

For this negligence Mrs. Cox is seeking the following damages:

• All economic, compensatory, consequential, and incidental damages against defendants to which they are entitled to under state law
• Attorney’s fees, costs, expenses, pre-judgment interest, and post-judgment interest
• Trial by jury is to be ordered
• Punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial
• Any other relief that the plaintiff may be entitled to if decided by the court

If you or a loved one were injured after receiving dialysis treatment, you have legal options. Please visit the Kidney Dialysis Heart Attack GranuFlo and NaturaLyte Recall Lawsuit Investigation. There, you can submit your claim for a free legal review and if it qualifies for legal action, a seasoned GranuFlo lawyer will contact you for a free, no-obligation consultation. You will be guided through the litigation process at no out-of-pocket expenses or hidden fees. The sudden cardiac death attorneys working this investigation do not get paid until you do.