Fresenius Medical Care runs a large chain of for-profit dialysis clinics in Michigan and around the country. In addition to its clinics, Fresenius also developed and manufactured two dialysis concentrates: GranuFlo and NaturaLyte.
After the company discovered a dangerously high rate of heart attacks among its patients who received GranuFlo and NaturaLyte to treat kidney disorders, it tried to cover up the situation by issuing a secretive internal memo. The federal Food and Drug Administration ultimately received a copy that document and an aggressive recall took the substances off of the market in 2012.
By that time, however, thousands of patients had already risked exposure to GranuFlo and NaturaLyte. One woman filed a wrongful death lawsuit this month, alleging that these dialysate solutions killed her husband in January 2011 – more than a year before the recall.
According to her lawsuit, the woman’s husband received kidney dialysis treatment at a Fresenius clinic. The day after his exposure to NaturaLyte and GranuFlo, the husband complained that he felt bloated. He died of a sudden heart attack that night. This pattern of events is very consistent with other tragic fatalities involving Fresenius’s dialysates.
Numerous lawsuits are already seeking to hold Fresenius accountable for its clinics’ dangerous medication errors – if you or a family member suffered a heart attack after receiving dialysis treatment, an experienced Detroit medical malpractice lawyer can help explore your legal options.
Source: Hernandez v. Fresenius, U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, Case 1:13-cv-10082, Jan. 14, 2013
