Since its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010, the popular blood-thinning drug Pradaxa (dabigatran) has become the lightening rod in a storm of lawsuits alleging the drug is dangerous and its German maker Boehringer Ingelheim negligent in marketing and selling the drug. More than 850,000 prescriptions and over $2 billion in sales revenues have not stemmed a growing tide of anger and suspicion around the drug’s links to at least 1,000 deaths caused by uncontrollable bleeding.
The attorneys of Eisbrouch Marsh are at the forefront of filing these lawsuits and representing the best interests of victims of Pradaxa injuries. If you or a loved one has experienced dangerous bleeding or other related complications because of Pradaxa, our product liability lawyers will inform you of your rights and the legal options available to you.
By filing a Pradaxa lawsuit, you can hold Boehringer Ingelheim accountable for its negligent actions and secure compensation for your pain and suffering, as well as other losses incurred as a result of taking the popular anticoagulant. Call Eisbrouch Marsh at 201-342-5545 to speak with a team member at our law offices in New Jersey or Manhattan.
Pradaxa Complications
The horror of bleeding to death is the worst complication attributed to the anticoagulant Pradaxa in emerging lawsuits. Currently, when Pradaxa-induced bleeding occurs, doctors are in most cases unable to stop it. That means that if you sustain a fall or cut when taking Pradaxa, you could very well bleed to death despite doctors’ best efforts to save you. There is no antidote for bleeding when taking Pradaxa.
Houston surgeon Bryan Cotton has been studying the problem of Pradaxa’s links to irreversible bleeding. Of 11 patients he has treated for severe bleeds while taking Pradaxa, only 4 have survived. Cotton is blunt about the frustration he feels as a surgeon seeing patients prescribed a drug that provides doctors with no reversing agent to stem bleeding in cases of trauma: “It’s irreversible—that’s a great idea; a drug that makes you bleed to death and there’s no reversal agent,” he quipped sarcastically, in an interview with The Houston Press.
If you are taking Pradaxa, you will want to carefully monitor yourself for any of the below side effects, and discontinue use should they occur:
- A tendency to bruise easily
- Anemia
- Heavy menstrual flow
- Blood in vomit or urine
- Coughing up of blood
- Moderate to severe inflammation of joints
- Generalized weakness, including headaches and dizziness
- Gastrointestinal distress, such as vomiting, diarrhea, stomach aches, heartburn, or indigestion
- Kidney or liver failure
- Stroke or heart attack
As an oral anticoagulant, Pradaxa inhibits a particular enzyme that causes blood clots and strokes. For patients with a high susceptibility to clotting, the drug can be a lifesaver; but for many others, the anticoagulant can actually increase the chances of fatal bleeding and in some cases, strokes and heart attacks.
Pradaxa Lawsuits and Allegations
Hundreds of thousands of persons with a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, which raises the risk of stroke, have been encouraged to take Pradaxa in place of its much older counterpart Coumadin (warfarin)—mainly because Pradaxa does not require dietary restrictions and regular monitoring, and has less drug interactions than Coumadin.
Take, for example, Loraine Franklin, who died just 8 months shy of her 60th wedding anniversary. Her daughters claim that were it not for her prescription of Pradaxa, Franklin would be alive today. Within 24 hours of falling on her kitchen floor and incurring an intracranial hemorrhage, Franklin died, her doctors finding it impossible to halt her bleeding.
Now Franklin’s family has sued drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim. They say if their mother had been taking Coumadin (as she had in the past), she would be alive today, since with Coumadin, doctors have a number of measures at their disposal to stop traumatic bleeds.
The Franklins are only one of many families suing the Pradaxa drugmaker for what they say was negligent marketing of a dangerous drug. In 2011 they joined dozens of other clients in the first mass tort litigation related to allegedly dangerous Pradaxa side effects. Since that time, thousands of Pradaxa lawsuits saw consolidation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in multidistrict litigation (MDL) and August 2014 was to be the start date for several bellwether trials.
Pradaxa Settlements and Compensation
In May 2014 Pradaxa manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim announced it would set aside $650 million for state and federal Pradaxa settlements. This figure could likely go up. The litigation arising in Illinois is only the beginning of many years of protracted disputes related to the alleged dangers of Pradaxa and its maker’s negligence in marketing the drug.
More lawsuits have emerged in Tennessee, Kentucky and elsewhere around the country, alleging Pradaxa contributed to serious and life-threatening injuries.
Eisbrouch Marsh: Product Liability Lawyers Who Fight for You
If you have reason to believe that Pradaxa has caused your injuries, you may be eligible to file a product liability claim and receive compensation in the form of lost wages, medical expenses, overall pain and suffering, and more.
Call the law offices of Eisbrouch Marsh today to schedule your free consultation with one of our seasoned personal injury lawyers: 201-342-5545.
Resources
- FDA, “Pradaxa: Medication Guide,” http://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/drugsafety/ucm231720.pdf
- Houston Press, “Pradaxa Patients Can’t Stop the Bleeding,” http://www.houstonpress.com/news/pradaxa-patients-cant-stop-the-bleeding-6594403
- The New York Times, “Study of Drug for Blood Clots Caused a Stir, Records Show,” https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/business/study-of-blood-clot-drug-pradaxa-unnerved-its-maker-documents-suggest.html?_r=0
