My late Grandmother's Pradaxa case.

[Cobrafang]

Hello, I was blessed with a wonderful Grandmother who was in great health until taking Pradaxa.
She was 90 yrs old in 2010 when prescribed Pradaxa, she was not taking anti coagulant warfarin ,no mention of it being new,just released or no anti dote, just that it was great and required no monitoring and despite being expensive and having no issues with warfarin ,she had taken it years earlier, it was presented to us
(I was there )as a wonderful alternative but for cost.
Immediately she was feeling weak,dizzy and called the Dr who said it's to be expected she had an appointment in a week. It got worse, I saw something was very wrong and rushed her to the hospital where the ER Dr looked at me and said he had never seen Pradaxa before nor an overdose of it and that there is no anti dote! and DNR etc!! He was shocked anyone would give Pradaxa to a 100lb.90 yr old woman!
She was one of the 1st to be prescribed ,receiving information via mail after her 1st 4 week intensive care stay. He said dialysis and blood etc was all we could do and she may die!She required 6 transfusions and until she died required more.
Where she was able to walk for 4 hours shopping now was relegated to 1/2 hour jaunts and was unable to enjoy almost anything because of this from this point on, was hospitalized 3 times for 4 weeks and 6 weeks in intensive care every time,
She was anemic and had problems bathing and personal tasks etc, Where I was caring for her before she was fairly independent, afterwards I could never leave her alone and the times I had to was when she would fall etc.
I and My girlfriend were on call every night several times and all day, I would never let anyone but myself care for her as I love her more than anyone in my life and her feelings seemed to be that way to me until at the end she lasted 3 yrs ill finally having a stroke Nov 2013 and requiring Nursing care and passed due to stroke Feb 24 2014.
She has a lawsuit for tens of millions I wont elaborate publicly amount, however her wishes were for me to see her case through and not let them get away with this, she was so furious and saddened her life was spent in poor health, dizzy, headaches she never had before anemia needing continuous transfusions to the end.
So she is gone, seems everyone looks at me as a parasite rather than a caregiver now?? I own my home but am not as well off s should be directly due to caring for her and my Uncle who had Leukemia and I cared for his last year out of love but ws promised oh so much he left my Grandmother 2 million and 1/2 joking but not,said he wanted to assure I cared for her and if I got my money would not be s interested etc?? I was not liking to even think about this at the time since we weer all alive but I did lose out as she apparently made amendments to the trust forgetting wht was promised and already given to me such as a 2006 Lexus that I only drove since new as she could not drive, allegedly given to my sister wh sdid not invite her to her wedding! I care not so much for this but in Dec learned I had a tumor on my kidney, all the times I sat at Sacramento Heart center seeing body scans for $300 and having a tumor 10 cm on my kidney I was dying more than my 90 yr old Grandmother and didnt even know it and in fact this is a different story but I am fine as can be as far as feeling well looking normal, if anything I look fat lol. but I should get my kidney removed apparently as it is a 5% to 20% chance its benign but at this size needs to come out any ways, My insurance I just got is $750 a month, Grandmother passed in Feb 2014.
Her taxman was her POA as was I for her health, he has refused to give me any money but absolute bare min even though there is almost 2 million in mutual fund, she owned no home lived with me! and owed no money, he did her taxes last 4 yrs and should know her debts and despite knowing I have cancer diagnosis do not allow me the car which he has at his home as trustee should not use! and I discovered he was convicted of failure of due diligence and fined $20k a few years back!m he was shady my grandma suspected as he tried to buy her Lexus for 12k lying to hr about the cars worth but she knew btter and a annuity I am supposed to buy thar guess who sells annuity yes trustee I do not want conflict of int erst him focing a crappy annuity on me for a commission especially if I have cancer and will not live 10 yrs.
I suspect grooming on tax gyus part as he seemed to be talking bad about me to my grandma, grooming her, doing favors etc and she was getting delusional the last few months 1 amendment was made the day before her stroke and her signature was terrible and she told me she could not recall what she did! and was cared but I cared less and she lost ability to speak clearly afterwards!
Please forgive my blue collar writing, I have always worked HVAC for 38 yrs and am 53 now and missing my poor Nana and feeling so overwhelmed by whats happened feeling hurt but worried if this guys ripping us off or telling us everything she had as I do not know I know of some but I doubt all of it. nd My daughter is successor to the tax guy and to tell you the truth that would not be great either as she would go crazy with that much money!
I also learned he terminated her nursing home via fx allegedly which is not legal costing us $3000 and Grandmother said in last years cost her $8000 tax mistakes!!

 

[Proserpina]

I heavily doubt that this is a million dollar lawsuit - but I'll explain why further.

Pradaxa is still a relatively "new" drug and the true effects of any drug generally don't happen until post-marketing, when the drug is actually being prescribed to the general public (versus the very few humans who get it while it's still going through the earlier stages of approval). Any anti-coagulant is going to carry certain risks and the older the patient, the more risky it becomes.

So this is what we're left with: an elderly patient with some significant health issues, who has been given a newer drug. Her age doesn't work in your favor, unfortunately. She had a condition requiring a blood thinner, which - with or without medication - carries a significant risk in and of itself.

With that said, there are several firms trying to get started with a class action suit. If you think there's a valid case (and through experience - my background is clinical trials - the age of the patient can impact the money award drastically with the younger patients getting markedly higher awards than their older counterparts), get together her medical records and have an attorney look at them. They generally don't charge for this at all, and if there's a good case to be had they'll usually go ahead on a contingency basis.

I'm terribly sorry for your loss.

 

[Cobrafang]

Thank you for the fast response.

My Grandmother has a case filed she is one of the 1st to go to trial soon it is for tens of millions, not saying that means anything. She feared the case outliving her aand that made her really mad, despite her being well off financially her health was ruined which made enjoying anything impossible almost, she was so tired all the time, she was a ball of fire able to shop for 4 hours, since her 50's she went vegan 90% and walked daily until she was given Pradaxa, She was on wayfarin however a Dr in Missouri where she went for a few years toook her of it and she was off it for years! and had no issues with it and it had an anti dote! She was not warned it was new or had no anti dote etc Feb 2010 to Feb 2014 Intensive care 4 times all related to anemia and require transfusions ever since being overdosed in Feb 2010 Her last 4 years were spent as an invalid physically unable to bathe or go to the bathroom without help this affected my life tremendously. I am just so shell shocked by this and learning I have cancer/ tumor on my kidney being promised rewards beyond my wildest imagination which ended up going to Grandma who was groomed by the tax guy , I contacted the aty office and got a paralegal who semed confuse as my 1st message was a stroke and my 2nd was her death.

I heavily doubt that this is a million dollar lawsuit - but I'll explain why further.

Pradaxa is still a relatively "new" drug and the true effects of any drug generally don't happen until post-marketing, when the drug is actually being prescribed to the general public (versus the very few humans who get it while it's still going through the earlier stages of approval). Any anti-coagulant is going to carry certain risks and the older the patient, the more risky it becomes.

So this is what we're left with: an elderly patient with some significant health issues, who has been given a newer drug. Her age doesn't work in your favor, unfortunately. She had a condition requiring a blood thinner, which - with or without medication - carries a significant risk in and of itself.

With that said, there are several firms trying to get started with a class action suit. If you think there's a valid case (and through experience - my background is clinical trials - the age of the patient can impact the money award drastically with the younger patients getting markedly higher awards than their older counterparts), get together her medical records and have an attorney look at them. They generally don't charge for this at all, and if there's a good case to be had they'll usually go ahead on a contingency basis.

I'm terribly sorry for your loss.