GranuFlo Deaths

When patients are given medical treatment options, it is a glimmer of hope that their health could possibly improve. However, the patient will have to make certain sacrifices. The sacrifices may entail improving one’s diet and to be consistent with their treatments. However, it is devastating to discover that you have been injured due a harmful ingredient within your treatment meds. The most devastating is when a harmful drug results in a person’s death, especially a loved one’s death.

What makes matters even worse is when drug manufacturers and medical companies hide vital details about a potentially hazardous drug ingredient, just to save their reputation and their profit potential. The drug manufacturing giant, Fresenius Medical Care is the perfect example.

In 2011, the New York Times reported that Fresenius Medical Care failed to warn doctors about potentially dangerous side effects of their dialysis drug product known as GranuFlo Dialysis. Fresenius is popularly known, in the medical community, as one of the leading manufacturers of dialysis products and dialysis equipment. They are also one of the largest operators of dialysis centers in the United States.

The dialysis treatment, GranuFlo has caused 941 people to suffer from instant cardiac arrest. These GranuFlo deaths were preventable if the manufacturer warned doctors in advanced.

The FDA found out about the GranuFlo defects and the Fresenius cover up by someone who sent a memo about the risks. The FDA’s questioning about the issue with GranuFlo compelled the company to finally notify clinics about the risks of heart attacks and sudden death instantly after dialysis treatment. If the anonymous whistleblower wasn’t brave enough to come forth, more lives would have been lost.

GranuFlo is a dry acid used to disperse electrolytes during a patient’s kidney dialysis. The chemical bicarbonate is used during the dialysis process to help balance acid in the blood. Bicarbonate is an ingredient within GranuFlo that turns itself into bicarbonate.

Several dialysis patients were prescribed GranuFlo without a clear warning about its harmful effects to patients. When the human body consumes excessive amounts of bicarbonate (by GranuFlo), it could cause metabolic alkalosis. Unfortunately, this can result in fatal effects including stroke, heart attack and cardiopulmonary arrest.

It was determined that patients had 6 times higher risk of adverse effects when patients had high levels of bicarbonate in their bloodstream. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has investigated Fresenius because of their harmful dialysis product and failure to warn doctors of the dangerous side effects.

If you have suffered from complications due to GranuFlo dialysis treatment or a loved one has died, contact a Nashua attorney today. We will review your case and pursue Fresenius Medical Care for compensation. Compensation for your injuries can be used to pay for medical expenses. If a loved one has died, you can sue for payment of their outstanding medical expenses, funeral expenses and loss of income, if he/she was a household breadwinner.

Contact Anzalone Law Firm PLLC for a free, no-obligation legal consultation at: 603.548.3797.