Lawsuit against Anti-stroke drug Pradaxa

 Posted on January 02, 2013 in Drugs

The on-going problem with an array of medication is that the side effects can be more damaging than the affliction being treated. That is the argument being made in the case of Barbara Jean Asher. The Asher family filed a lawsuit against Boehringer Ingelheim, makers of Pradaxa seeking damages for punitive damages, medical expenses, and other costs associated with her ailments. Pradaxa is a blood thinning medication which intends to stop people from having blood clots and reduce the risks of strokes for people with a certain kind of heart arrhythmia. The drug quickly cornered the blood thinner market because it didn't require regular blood tests to ensure correct dosage.

Barbara Jean Asher was prescribed Pradaxa after suffering a stroke. But after three months of taking the medication, she was rushed to a local hospital and treated for internal bleeding. When the doctors on duty could not stop the bleeding, Asher unfortunately bled out and died in June of 2011. Unlike other blood thinning medication, Pradaxa does not have an antidote which reverses the effects, which can led to patients not being able to coagulate when they are wounded. The death of Barbara left her husband and children looking for answers.

While Pradaxa has proved to be markedly more effective in preventing strokes than older blood thinners, Pradaxa has been linked to as many as 500 deaths in the United States alone. Over 150 of these deaths have resulted in a lawsuit to be filed seeking damages against the pharmaceutical company. The question remains if the company which manufactures Pradaxa knew of these deadly risks. All of the cases have been consolidated for pretrial review in East Saint Louis in Illinois to be overseen by U.S. District Judge David Herndon. If you have experienced a bad side effect from Pradaxa or a different drug, please contact an experienced personal injury attorney in Crystal Lake to review your defective drug complaint.