LAWSUIT FILED FOR WOMAN WHO BLED TO DEATH FROM PRADAXA

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Boehringer Ingelheim on behalf of a woman who bled to death, it is alleged from the side affects of Pradaxa a drug used to prevent strokes among individuals with atrial fribrillation. The medication was promoted as better than warfarin because it needs less monitoring but Pradaxa does not have a reversal agent that can be used to quickly stop bleeding that may develop. With Warfarin, doctors can give patients a heavy dose of Vitamin K if bleeding occurs. No such antidote is available for Pradaxa. The lawsuit says that Gertrude Eubanks began to bleed internally within days from when she began taking the drug. The doctors were unable to halt the bleeding. In recent months, hundreds of adverse event reports have been filed with the FDA involving hemorrhages and internal bleeding which may have caused many users to bleed to death. At least 505 instances involving Pradaxa bleeding events were reported according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Sales as of February exceeded $1 billion nontheless. Pradaxa is an oral anticoagulant and is a direct thrombin inhibitor (DTI). In a recently released study in Germany, researchers found a higher risk of intracranial bleeding associated with Pradaxa compared with Warfarin.