This is Michael Brady Lynch, lead trial attorney for The Michael Brady Lynch Firm.
As my regular readers are aware, I recently issued a Consumer Alert! Dialysis Warning regarding the public health disaster involving the GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis additive products. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has declared Fresenius Medical Care’s recent warning regarding its GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis products to be a Class I recall, the FDA’s most serious medical device recall category.
Having been active in GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis injury lawsuits since the date of recall, I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to share my knowledge and lecture to my fellow attorneys at the upcoming HarrisMartin Dialysis Injury Litigation Conference on GranuFlo and NaturaLyte to be held in Miami Beach, FL, on November 2st, 2012, at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Resort & Spa.
A little background on NaturaLyte and Granuflo: Manufactured by Fresenius Medical Care, NaturaLyte is an oral acid concentrate used to treat acute and chronic renal failure during hemodialysis. Granuflo and NaturaLyte’s proprietary blend of acetate compounds has been associated with adverse events in patients undergoing dialysis treatment. Both the NaturaLyte oral concentrate and NaturaLyte GranuFlo powder were produced and sold from January 2008 through June 2012.
To read the FDA recall on GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, please access the FDA website at http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/ListofRecalls/ucm309990.htm
One of the most troubling aspects of the GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis product recall is the widespread use of Granuflo and NaturaLyte in dialysis clinics across the country. The NaturaLyte liquid concentrate was used in a multi-faceted dialysis treatment administered by thousands of doctors every year. Both GranuFlo and NaturaLyte contain acetate compounds that are converted to bicarbonate. The use of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte has been linked to an up to six-fold increase in the risk of cardiopulmonary arrest and sudden cardiac death.
And in a truly staggering example of putting profits over patient safety, Fresenius Medical Care was aware of the injuries and dangers associated with their Granuflo and NaturaLyte dialysis products but failed to warn patients and doctors until 2012. An internal memo leaked to the FDA shows that top executives at Fresenius Medical Care knew that GranuFlo and NaturaLyte were responsible for hundreds of heart attacks and strokes in kidney dialysis patients receiving treatment at Fresenius clinics across the country. According to the memo, dated November 4, 2011, over 940 patients suffered GranuFlo heart attacks and NaturaLyte heart attacks, leading to multiple deaths. This data is only the tip of the iceberg of the anticipated thousands of currently unreported GranuFlo heart attacks and NaturaLyte heart attacks caused by Fresenius’s lack of ethics and complete disregard for the health and welfare of American consumers.
The troubling data of the rate of GranuFlo heart attacks and NaturaLyte heart attacks reveals that more than half of all dialysis patients in the United States are at risk for Granuflo and NaturaLyte injury. In hundreds of reported cases, patients developed bicarbonate levels that were abnormally high as a result of the product and consequently suffered a range of life-threatening Granuflo and NaturaLyte side effects from administration of Granuflo and NaturaLyte. Types of Granuflo and NaturaLyte injuries include:
- Cardiac arrhythmia
- Low blood pressure
- Low potassium levels (hypokalemia )
- Low blood oxygen (hypoxemia)
- Heart attack
- Sudden cardiac death
The HarrisMartin Dialysis Injury Litigation Conference on Granuflo and NaturaLyte will cover every important aspect in the case against Fresenius Medical Care for Granuflo and NaturaLyte cardiac injuries. It goes without saying that the HarrisMartin Dialysis Injury Litigation Conference is truly a must-attend for anyone seeking to represent plaintiffs in Granuflo and NaturaLyte litigation.
To register for the HarrisMartin Dialysis Injury Litigation Conference on Granuflo and NaturaLyte, please access http://harrismartin.com/conference/844/Dialysis_Nov12/
If you or a loved one underwent dialysis and suffered a serious cardiac event within 48 hours of treatment, kindly please contact The Michael Brady Lynch Firm for a confidential, no-cost evaluation with one of our Granuflo and NaturaLyte attorneys.
About the Firm: The Michael Brady Lynch Firm is a trial firm with a focus on pharmaceutical mass tort cases involving SSRI and Anti-Seizure Medication Birth Defects such as Lexapro, Zoloft, Effexor, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, Depakote and Topamax, as well as Pradaxa Internal Bleeding, GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis injury, Actos Bladder Cancer, Fosamax Femur Fractures, and medical device cases including DePuy Hip and Trans-Vaginal Mesh cases. Contact us today if you or someone you know has experienced side effects involving these products.