Two more plaintiffs have come forward seeking drug injury compensation from Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the harm they have suffered from taking Pradaxa. They contend that the anticoagulant caused them to bleed profusely, resulting in serious health issues.
In her Illinois Pradaxa case, Jacqueline Boston says that she was hospitalized for two weeks after suffering from serious gastrointestinal bleeding within a few days of taking the medication. She claims that she now will have to undergo medical monitoring and continue on certain drugs for life because she took Pradaxa.
Boston is accusing Boehringer Ingelheim of failing to adequately warn patients about the risks involved with taking the anticoagulant. She says that had she known that bleeding profusely was a possible side effect, she wouldn’t have taken Pradaxa.
In his Louisiana Pradaxa complaint, Arnold R. Sykes claims that he suffered severe rectal bleeding and start to spit up blood not long after being prescribed the drug for treatment of atrial fibrillation in 2011. Just a month after taking the medication, Sykes collapsed and had to be admitted to an ICU, where he was given blood transfusion and told to get off Pradaxa ASAP. He says he underwent several medical procedures to save his life.
Sykes contends that no one ever told him that taking Pradaxa could result in life-threatening injuries or that the drug came with more possible serious side effects than blood thinner Warfarin. He says that if he’d known that he might bleed profusely from taking Pradaxa, he would have chosen a different course of treatment.
Pradaxa Lawsuits
Our Pradaxa injury lawyers cannot stress the important of drug manufacturers making sure that a medication’s label warns of any dangerous risks or side effects that can result. It is imperative that a patient is informed of what they might have to contend with should they suffer a serious reaction to taking any medication.
However, although the US Food and Drug Administration has authorized Boehringer Ingelheim to update Pradaxa’s drug label, which includes a warning that there is no reversal agent, where is the warning that the blood thinner comes with the risk of hemorrhaging and even death? Not only can Pradaxa cause a patient to bleed uncontrollably, but this blood thinner doesn’t have an antidote to counteract this particular blood thinner. How then can doctors stop such serious bleeding complications, except through emergency dialysis, which in itself is a complicated procedure with its own risks?
FDA Drug Safety Communication: Safety review of post-market reports of serious bleeding events with the anticoagulant Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate), FDA, December 7, 2011
Pradaxa Warnings and Precautions, Drugs.com
More Blogs:
Pradaxa Lawsuit Claims Drug’s Side Effects Caused Woman to Bleed to Death, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, April 30, 2012
Study Links Depo-Provera to Greater Breast Cancer Risk in Young Women, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, July 16, 2012
Israeli Court Awards Highest-Ever Compensation in Class-Action Suit against Drug Company, Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, July 10, 2012
There have reportedly been more than 200 reports of people sustaining serious health complications from taking Pradaxa. If you or someone you love experienced excessive bleeding from taking this medication, please contact our Pradaxa lawyers at Altman & Altman LLP to request your free consultation. Our dangerous drug lawyers represent clients throughout the US.