NEW YORK, April 21, 2015 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The New York City law firm of Rheingold, Valet, Rheingold, McCartney & Giuffra LLP this week commenced two wrongful death lawsuits, each involving the death of a user of the blood thinner Xarelto. In each case it is alleged that the drug is misleadingly marketed as a “one size fits all” for patients, and without a disclosure that there is no reversal agent available to arrest bleeding once it starts.
Both of the firm’s clients had been recently started on Xarelto and rapidly developed bleeding in the brain. Although hospital doctors tried to use standard methods to reverse the bleeding, there turned out not to be a remedy for a Xarelto-induced bleed, as there is for the more established drug used to control clotting, Coumadin (warfarin).
The defendants in both cases are the manufacturers and suppliers of Xarelto, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical, its Janssen division, and also Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The generic name of the drug is rivaroxaban.
One of the two cases, Padrick v. Janssen Research & Development, LLC, et al, D.N.J., 3:15-cv-02774-MAS-DEA, Graham Padrick, age 76, was switched to Xarelto from Coumadin for treatment of atrial fibrillation January 2013. The next month he developed a subdural hematoma and died February 14, 2013. He left a widow and three children.
In the second case, Romano v. Janssen Research & Development, LLC, et al, 15 CV 3111, S.D.N.Y., Ladson Romano, age 67, was placed on Xarelto November 2014 because of the potential for development of a deep vein thrombosis. He shortly thereafter developed hemorrhaging in the brain stem, and died December 20, 2014. His widow is the plaintiff in the suit.
Xarelto, along with Pradaxa and Eliquis, are in the category of new direct action oral anticoagulants.
In addition to liability asserted in these complaints based upon the lack of a reversal agent, liability is also claimed based upon the promotion of Xarelto as a blood thinner which does not need frequent patient monitoring. Also, it is asserted that the one daily dose of Xarelto, not tailored to the need of individual patients, presents an excessive risk of bleeding, since patients differ in age, weight and liver function.
RVRMG is a national firm located in New York City, handling personal injury cases including mass torts, a field which includes the Xarelto litigation. Partner Paul D. Rheingold commented: “We expect these two cases to join others already filed around the country in a multidistrict litigation which has been established in New Orleans, the Eastern District of Louisiana.”
The Rheingold law firm is also investigating a separate type of injury attributable to the use of Xarelto: hepatocellular liver damage. A recent medical article in the JAMA Internal Medicine magazine reported on two cases associated with the use of the drug.
Contact: Paul D. Rheingold
Rheingold, Valet, Rheingold, McCartney & Giuffra LLP
113 E 37th Street, New York, NY 10016
Tel. (212) 684-1880 Toll Free: (800)349-0004 Fax: (212)689-8156
www.rheingoldlaw.com
