GranuFlo Lawsuits Move Forward, as Federal Court Adopts Master Complaint for all Claims Filed in Wake of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte Recall, Bernstein Liebhard LLP Reports
New York, New York (PRWEB) January 03, 2014 -- GranuFlo lawsuits (http://www.thegranuflolawsuit.com/ ) filed on behalf of individuals who allegedly suffered heart attacks, strokes, sudden cardiac death, and other serious heart injuries following administration of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis concentrates continue to move forward in a federal multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, Bernstein Liebhard LLP reports. According to a Case Management Order issued on December 23, 2013, the Court has approved the use of a Master Complaint and Short Form Complaint for all claims filed in the proceeding. The Master Complaint details common allegations raised in all dialysis lawsuits stemming from the 2012 GranuFlo and NaturaLyte recall. All future plaintiffs will be able to use the Short Form Complaint to indicate which dialysis drug they were treated with, what injuries they are alleging, and what specific allegations from the Master Complaint they are adopting. (In re Fresenius GranuFlo/Naturalyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428)
“Our Firm is representing numerous individuals who allegedly suffered catastrophic heart injuries related to the GranuFlo recall. The adoption of the Master and Short Form Complaints will do much to streamline the process for filing GranuFlo or NaturaLyte lawsuits,” says Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm is currently offering free GranuFlo lawsuit evaluations to dialysis patients who allegedly suffered cardiac arrest, heart attacks, stroke, sudden cardiac death or other side effects within 72 hours of a dialysis treatment involving the use of GranuFlo of NaturaLyte.
GranuFlo Lawsuits
Court documents indicate that at least 433 GranuFlo lawsuits have been filed thus far in the litigation underway in the District of Massachusetts. All of the lawsuits similarly allege that Fresenius failed to provide adequate warnings regarding the risks associated with GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, and that the company continued to aggressively market the products even once it became aware of those risks.
On March 2012, Fresenius Medical Care, the manufacturer of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, issued an Urgent Product Notification for both products that warned of dosage issues that could cause dialysis patients to suffer serious and catastrophic heart side effects. The New York Times reported in June 2012 that many doctors did not know that GranuFlo and NaturaLyte were manufactured differently than rival dialysis drugs, and contained more of an ingredient the body converts to bicarbonate. If a prescribing physician did not account for this difference, there existed a risk that patients would develop a dangerous elevation of bicarbonate in their blood known as metabolic alkalosis. This condition can result in sudden and life-threatening heart problems, including heart attacks, strokes, and sudden cardiac death, during or shortly after treatments.*
Fresenius’ Urgent Product Notification was eventually granted Class I recall status by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), a designation that is given to medical products that pose a risk of serious injury or death. The New York Times has also reported that the agency launched a probe of Fresenius Medical Care after it became aware of an internal memo circulated by the company to its in-network dialysis clinics in November 2011 that detailed potential risks linked to GranuFlo and NaturaLyte. The FDA is trying to determine if Fresenius should have issued a nationwide warning about the two drugs earlier than it did.*
Individuals who allegedly suffered a catastrophic heart event within 72 hours of a dialysis treatment that involved GranuFlo or NaturaLyte may be entitled to file a GranuFlo lawsuit against Fresenius Medical Care. To learn more about the serious heart side effects behind the GranuFlo recall, please visit Bernstein Liebhard LLP’s website, or the Firm’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/granuflolawsuit. For additional information, and to arrange for a free case review, please call 800-511-5092.
*nytimes.com/2012/06/15/health/fda-investigates-fresenius-for-failure-to-warn-of-risk.html; New York Times, June 14, 2012
About Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993, including those who have been harmed by dangerous drugs, defective medical devices and consumer products. The firm has been named by The National Law Journal to the “Plaintiffs’ Hot List,” recognizing the top plaintiffs’ firms in the country, for the past 11 consecutive years.
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Contact Information:
Felecia L. Stern, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
info(at)consumerinjurylawyers(dot)com
http://www.thegranuflolawsuit.com/
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Felecia L. Stern, GranuFlo and NaturaLyte Dialysis Lawsuit Center, http://www.thegranuflolawsuit.com/, +1 800-511-5092, [email protected]
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