Like Death and Taxes, There Is No Escape from a Xarelto Bleedout

New York, NYAnd so it begins, the parade of Xarelto death lawsuits that allege a new-age blood thinner that was supposed to be way better than old, reliable but temperamental warfarin (brand name Coumadin) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s more than a mere disappointment. People have died, allegedly due to the Achilles heel of Xarelto: the inability to reverse a potentially fatal Xarelto bleeding issue, once it starts.

Various lawsuits alleging Xarelto bleedout are making their presence felt in the courts. One such case is that of the late Thomas C. Dunkley. He was prescribed Xarelto in summer 2012 to treat atrial fibrillation and to help reduce the risk for stroke. Blood thinners are a common prescription as people age, along with the need to thin the blood just enough for it to travel more effectively through arteries and blood vessels that often shrink with age or narrow with the formation of plaque along arterial walls.

Besides, Xarelto was billed as a new and superior blood thinner over Coumadin, which requires constant monitoring. Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) does not. Newer, better, more convenient.

However, it wasn’t to be for Thomas Dunkley. Just 10 days after adopting the use of Xarelto to thin his blood, the Vermont man suffered catastrophic bleeding complications in his brain and died on August 1, 2012.

Had he been using Coumadin, he might be alive today. While warfarin (Coumadin) requires stringent monitoring to make sure all the stars align to mitigate any risk of hemorrhaging, there is a way to stop a warfarin bleeding event if it starts - the immediate application of vitamin K. The latter very quickly reverses the thinning properties of warfarin and allows the blood to once again clot, preventing catastrophic blood loss.

With Xarelto, there is no such antidote. Like death, there is no turning back once you’re there. The key with Xarelto is to make sure a hemorrhage doesn’t start. Once it does, all bets are off.

There’s no turning back

For Thomas Dunkley, it resulted in a Xarelto death. Dunkley’s widow, Ruth McGowen, has launched a Xarelto lawsuit against Xarelto principals Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, the subsidiary of drug and medical products juggernaut Johnson & Johnson.

“As part of their marketing of Xarelto, Defendants widely disseminated direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns that were designed to influence patients, including Decedent, to make inquiries to their prescribing physician about Xarelto and/or request prescriptions for Xarelto,” the lawsuit says, according to court records.

“In the course of these direct-to-consumer advertisements, Defendants overstated the efficacy of Xarelto with respect to preventing stroke and systematic embolism, failed to adequately disclose to patients that there is no drug, agent, or means to reverse the anticoagulation effects of Xarelto, and that such irreversibility could have permanently disabling, life-threatening and fatal consequences.”

As convenient as it is, some of the Xarelto side effects associated with Rivaroxaban can be deadly. Such was the case with the late Charles Griggs, who died in December 2013. According to the Xarelto lawsuit, Griggs was prescribed Xarelto in May 2013 at the age of 92. Three months later, in late August, Griggs suffered what was described as a life-threatening Xarelto bleedout. The lawsuit alleges the trauma suffered by Griggs led to his death in December of that year.

The case is Harry Griggs et al v. Janssen Research & Development LLC et al, Case No. 1:14-cv-04841-FB-VMS filed August 14 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

There are others. Attorneys predict Xarelto has the potential to mushroom into a sizeable tort.