More than 15,000 Adverse Events Linked to Xarelto in 2016

Xarelto

As the number of lawsuits against the blood thinner Xarelto continues to climb, so do reports of injuries and deaths caused by the controversial anticoagulant, according to a recent study by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).

According to ISMP, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration received 15,043 reports of serious injury or death linked to Xarelto last year — a 41 percent increase over the previous year.

ISMP, a non-profit organization that monitors and analyzes adverse drug events reported to the government, published the findings in its annual edition of QuarterWatch. 

Oral blood thinners such as Xarelto caused more emergency room visits in 2016 than any other class of drugs, ISMP found. The group said it identified nearly 22,000 reports of severe injury, including 3,018 deaths. Nearly all of the injuries were from internal bleeding, the report states. Of the five anticoagulants implicated, rivaroxaban, sold under the brand name Xarelto, accounted for 68.4 percent of all adverse events in 2016, according to ISMP.

Convicted Pedophile Priest Paul Shanley to Be Released From Prison

Catholic Sexual Abuse

Convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley has completed his prison sentence and is expected to be released this week.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented Shanley’s victims and numerous other victims of the Roman Catholic church child sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, told NBC Boston that Shanley is set to be released on Friday. He is currently being held at the medium security Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater.

Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly at St. Jean’s Parish in Newton in the 1980s. He was defrocked after dozens of men came forward and said he had molested them when they were children.

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Teen sues after losing legs in train accident

Train Accidents

A Georgia teen who lost part of his legs when he was run over by a train has sued the railroad company and operators.

Jacob Ohl, 17, was walking along railroad tracks on March 2 in Liliburn when he was hit by an oncoming train that did not have a functioning camera, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The teen is suing for compensation for his injuries from railroad company CSX and operators Derrick Tyrone Marshall and Clifton Edward Martin, who were running the train.

The lawsuit, which was filed last week, claimed the train conductor never blew the train’s horn to alert the teen, who was wearing headphones. The suit also claims there was no fencing or warning devices for pedestrians.

According to the suit, the engineer and conductor saw Ohl about 1,000 feet before striking him, but the train wasn’t stopped for another half-mile after the accident.

His mom, Fern Cook
“We all feel lost in the overwhelming helplessness of this crazy situation,” Cook said.