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Litigation Funding Blog

Risk of heart attacks was allegedly hidden by medical care company

October 24, 2013

Fresenius Medical Care, who company which makes GranuFlo for use with dialysis patients, has been named in a wrongful death lawsuit.

A Princeton, Indiana woman reportedly went for her regular dialysis appointment in 2011. She was given a dialysate made by Fresenius Medical Care, Granuflo, used to screen blood during hemodialysis.

Two days later, the woman was found dead in her home. She had apparently suffered a heart attack. Her family filed a wrongful death, defective product lawsuit, suggesting the medical manufacturer deliberately hid the potentially fatal side-effects of the product. It further stated that the deceased and her health care providers were not advised of how dangerous the product could be. The lawsuit is asking $2 million in damages.

Further information presented in court documents indicated Granuflo did not have a proper balance of bicarbonate and sodium acetate, which could lead to a heart attack and metabolic alkalosis. The sodium acetate is used to balance bicarbonate levels in the blood during use with a three-stream dialysis machine.

Evidently, the company was aware of the risk of their product as early as 2004, but did not issue any warnings. Since that time, over 260,000 patients have used Granuflo. It is believed thousands have had serious issues with the sodium bicarbonate and at least 941 people died as a result of using the product.

The company did send a memo to their own clinics in 2011, advising that the product could increase the risk of a heart attack by up to 8 times. The memo was not sent to anyone else, until someone anonymously sent a copy to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012. It is expected there will be more lawsuits filed against the company.

The deceased’s family faces a long journey to justice. In the meantime, they may struggle to pay their regular bills, in addition to funeral and burial expenses. In order to get ahead on their payments and other important expenses, they might wish to consider applying for a lawsuit loan. Litigation funding is an emergency cash loan that plaintiffs may use to pay their bills.

Pre-settlement funding also allows a plaintiff to turn down any short cash offers an insurance company may attempt to make, hoping they would settle for less than what they would be entitled to in court. Make sure you have hired a lawyer first, then contact a reputable litigation company for assistance. It may be the best call you ever make.

Six-year-old boy dies by electrocution at abandoned commercial property

October 15, 2013

The death of a 6-year-old boy by electrocution at a site that had been inspected by a city worker has sparked a lawsuit.

Cases involving the death of young children are especially difficult for everyone, and perhaps no more so than for the city of Montgomery employee who had recently inspected an abandoned facility approximately five months prior to the boy’s death.
The young boy died in 2009, as a result of playing near an air-conditioning unit in an abandoned building on a commercial property. While playing, the young boy came into contact with live wires and was electrocuted. The property had been inspected five months before the boy’s death. Thieves had raided the air-conditioner to steal the copper wiring.

The parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit, naming the worker. The main issue in the case relates to whether or not the worker, who did the inspection onsite, is protected by state law, a law that caps damages in civil suits at $100,000. In this instance, the worker is being sued personally, not as an employee for the city, which may, or may not mean that he is protected by the law.

The electrical worker’s attorney argued in court that the law does protect city workers from damages above the existing cap, and states that in plain and clear language. The original trial court ruled the statutory cap did not apply. The case went on appeal. There is no word on when the Supreme Court intends to hear the appeal.

The boy’s parents likely have massive bills to contend with in addition to their regular expenses, and may be hard-pressed to keep up with all of them in a timely manner. A solution for them to pay those bills would be applying for litigation funding. Pre-settlement funding is an advance lawsuit loan that is sent to approved plaintiff applicants to allow them to get back their financial bearings.

Applying for a lawsuit loan is easy. It may be done online or by phone. There are not upfront payments or monthly payments, no credit checks and no hassles. Many plaintiffs find litigation funding appealing when they have nowhere else to go to get financial help.

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