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Have your suffered serious side effects from Heparin treatments?
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Questions about Heparin

Colorado, Wyoming, Ohio, and Nationwide

1. What is Heparin?

Heparin is an anticoagulant to keep the blood from clotting. Because blood can clot quickly, Heparin is used to avoid this threat altogether. This is sometimes used during medical procedures as a life-saving procedure.

2. When is Heparin used?

It is used during kidney dialysis. Dialysis removes impurities from circulating blood with a machine. Impurities such as calcium and potassium are filtered through a membrane into a fluid that is low in those impurities. It can take several hours for a person to complete their dialysis and have their blood cleansed. Heparin is injected to keep the blood from clotting as it moves through the dialysis machine.

Heparin is also used for treatment of:

  • Heart attacks
  • Venous blood clots
  • Coronary bypass surgery
  • Atrial fibrillation

3. Why has Heparin been recalled recently?

In early 2008, a doctor in St. Louis found that severe adverse reactions in two children were caused by contaminated Heparin. He sent a report to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) explaining his findings, which was then inundated with hundreds of other reports of suspected contaminated Heparin. The makers of half the country’s Heparin, Baxter Health Corporation, agreed to pull their product and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) then began investigating.

Heparin’s raw ingredient, pig intestines, is produced at a plant in China. It was found that the contamination started there. At first, it was though China has used diseased pigs; however, the FDA found that the Heparin had been adulterated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, which closely mimics the ingredients found in Heparin. It was then reported that neither the FDA nor the Chinese had inspected the plant before the ingredients were shipped to Baxter in 2004.

Other lots of Heparin manufactured by other companies were also found to be contaminated with a bacterium that can be fatal.

4. What are the adverse reactions to this contaminated Heparin?

They are an uncomfortable group of symptoms:

  • Chest pain
  • Diarrhea
  • Dizziness
  • Headaches
  • Lowered blood pressure
  • Shortness of breath
  • Stomach pain and nausea, perhaps vomiting

5. Can these effects be fatal?

At least 81 people have died, and hundreds more have been sickened by contaminated Heparin. Low blood pressure, chest pain combined with an irregular heartbeat, and shortness of breath can all cause death.

6. Where was the contaminated Heparin sold?

All 50 states received contaminated Heparin. It was also found in 11 other countries.

If you or a loved one has received contaminated Heparin or suspect your symptoms may be related to this contamination, contact your doctor immediately. The Heparin attorneys at Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh and Jardine, P.C. are currently evaluating claims regarding this matter from all states. Contact us for a free initial evaluation.

Janet G. Abaray of Burg Simpson’s Cincinnati, Ohio office has been appointed to the Heparin Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee by Chief Judge Carr of the Northern District of Ohio. The Executive Committee acts as the leadership group on behalf of Heparin plaintiffs in all federal court cases.