Heparin: No explanation for husband's death

Kankakee, ILDiane can't help but think Heparin caused her husband's death. "Two years ago my husband Jack and I were sitting at the kitchen table at my sister's house and he said he had difficulty breathing," she says. " I called our family doctor and he said we should go to the hospital but Jack refused to go. It only lasted a minute or two then he was back to normal.

"The next day I took him to the doctor and he diagnosed acid reflex and gave him a few prescriptions. That afternoon, Jack and I went out shopping and he felt fine.

That night around 9pm it happened again and this time he was gasping for air. Jack didn't think he was going to make it. The paramedics came right away and took him to Riverside Hospital—Jack's lungs were full of fluid. They drained his lungs and said he needed an aortic valve replacement sooner than later.

That was March 17, 2006 and he scheduled the surgery for March 24th. Jack wanted to come home and have a few days to get his thoughts together and wanted to make sure I was going to be OK. He went back into hospital as scheduled and they told us surgery would not be invasive and he would have a quick recovery. They didn't have to break his ribs and being active with no prior health problems, Jack planned on going back to work in two weeks.

The surgery was supposed to take four hours; instead he was in the operating room for 13 hours. Once the valve was placed, his heart wouldn't respond so they did a variety of other things: a balloon, a pacemaker and more. I don't know if it was during surgery or afterwards that he was given Heparin.

The doctors told me there was nothing more they could do for Jack and suggested he get air-lifted to University of Chicago hospital. That is where Jack died. I was told that he was given Heparin at both hospitals. Apparently his liver and kidneys failed and his hands and feet were blue-black. The nurse told me that was because of the Heparin.

I have a paper box full of medical reports that says he was taken off Heparin and given another blood thinner--Coumadin. If the nurse didn't tell me, I would never have thought that Heparin might be the cause of his death. Did the reaction to Heparin cause all the other problems? At one point the vascular doctor said that they might have to cut off his foot and two fingers.

Jack died on September 7th, 2006. He was a big, strong guy--Jack worked in construction and landscaping, always physical work. He was only 47 years old and very active. The only time he ever went to the doctor was for a sinus problem so this came right out of the blue.

I have requested all the records from his primary care physician and records from both hospitals. Some of this stuff is so hard to understand and it is just too emotional for me."