Trasylol’s Dangers Encountered Worldwide
Americans aren’t the only ones suffering from strokes, heart attacks and kidney failure linked to the drug Trasylol. Last Sunday, the United Kingdom’s Daily Times contained a first-person account of one man’s harrowing experience after receiving Bayer’s anti-bleeding drug.
In “The heart surgery time bomb: One man’s brush with death due to post-op drug,” Eric Clark writes that one morning, five months after major heart surgery:
“I intend to swing myself out of bed. Nothing happens, I can’t move. No worries – I obviously pulled something in the gym two days ago. I try again, and this time my grunt wakes my wife. ‘I can’t move,’ I say.My voice sounds strange – I’m slurring my words. Now I start to panic – I am completely paralyzed. ‘Oh my God, darling, I think you’ve had a stroke.’”
Doctors confirmed what Clark’s wife suspected. But it would take Clark much longer to link his stroke to Trasylol, known generically as aprotinin.
Clark explains that five months before the stroke, he underwent a triple bypass surgery and aortic valve replacement. He was fit, didn’t smoke and wasn’t overweight. It was likely that his problems were hereditary. The surgery went well but Clark experienced excessive post-operative bleeding. He was injected with Trasylol, had a blood transfusion and was even opened back up but no bleeding point was found. Eventually, the bleeding stopped.
Clark’s doctor suspected that the bleeding might be linked to the Vitamin E supplements he’d been taking and recommended Clark write about the dangers of mixing supplements and surgery. Clark agreed and the hospital handed over all of the patient’s medical records. Those same records would later help Clark link his stroke to Trasylol.
According to Clark, 30 to 50 percent of heart surgery patients received aprotinin during the 14 years it was in use in the UK. There are about 25,000 former heart surgery patients in the UK who received Trasylol in the past five years but don’t know it, Clark writes. It wasn’t until Dec. 7 that UK regulatory authorities finally agreed to suspend the drug.
“The scary thing is that its potential dangers don’t end with the injection or within days or weeks. Some researchers believe the risks remain for ten years after the drug has been given.”
Our firm currently represents several Trasylol victims and their families in lawsuits against Bayer. If you or a loved one suffered complications after taking Trasylol contact Carey & Danis. We can help. Carey & Danis is a national law firm that represents individuals injured by America's largest corporations.
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