Once again, The Michael Brady Lynch Firm is fighting for pharmaceutical injustice our clients. In a courtroom in New Orleans, a jury will hear evidence this week that the manufacturer Bayer and Johnson & Johnson of the blood thinner Xarelto purposely hid side effects from patients and doctors. This malice led to the unfortunate death of Sharyn Orr.
Second Xarelto Bellwether
This is the second of four bellwether trials. A bellwether trial takes a single case from a larger batch to present to a jury. This normally gives the defendant an idea of how the case will fair if it goes to trial. Many manufacturers will settle at this point to avoid a larger amount delivered by a jury.
This second bellwether focuses on Sharyn Orr. On April 24, 2016, Orr, a 67-year-old academic advisor for Tulane University suffered a massive stroke. Since she was on Xarelto to treat her atrial fibrillation, the surgeon feared if he performed the needed surgery she would bleed out. The surgeon had to wait at least 12 hours before he could safely perform the operation since the drug has no antidote.
On May 4, 2016, Sharyn Orr died 10 days after entering the hospital.
Failure to Warn
Xarelto manufacturers Bayer and Johnson & Johnson failed to warn patients and doctors of the danger of using their blood thinner. If they provided doctors with adequate information on how to perform a simple a test, doctors could predict serious bleeding risks in patients. Patients like Orr may still be alive today. Furthermore, if doctors could measure the amount of Xarelto in Orr’s system, her neurosurgeon could have either prevented her death or increased her chances of survival.
A Path of Injury
Unfortunately, Sharyn Orr isn’t the first person to pay the ultimate price from Bayer and Johnson & Johnson’s negligence. There are around 15,000 cases pending against the manufacturers. The FDA alone received around 2,000 reports of adverse events, which included over 150 deaths.
In 2015, independent researchers examined all the adverse events reported to the FDA. In the ISMP Study, they found that not only did Xarelto actually cause over 1,000 deaths, but also the drug wasn’t very efficient either. It only helped 9% of blood clot events. 28 million people use the drug worldwide, which exposes them to deadly and unnecessary bleeding events. Bayer and Johnson & Johnson continue to deny that their drug even without an antidote is completely safe to use.
If Xarelto Injured You
The Michael Brady Lynch Firm is still taking cases from all 50 states. If you or someone you loved suffered a bleeding event after taking Xarelto, you may be entitled to compensation. We have decades of experience going up against large pharmaceutical corporations like Bayer and Johnson & Johnson. We have recovered multi-million dollar settlements for our clients. Our leadership expertise is constantly sought after as we have held numerous high-ranking positions in various medical claim cases. When you are injured, you need an experienced firm to know all the legal avenues to process your claim. The Michael Brady Lynch Firm is that firm. Contact us today, 24/7 to speak to a knowledgeable associate.