Product liability, malpractice or something else?

Question

My mother, who was diagnosed with a homogeneous factor V Leiden mutation, Protein S, and the prothrombin II Mutation in 2009; passed away in her sleep on the 31 August, 2016, cause of death a large, "pulmonary embolism." while taking Xarelto. In the Fall of 2015, her doctor replaced her Warfarin regimen, that she'd taken for years, without any re-occurrence of an embolism, and replaced it with Xarelto. In March of 2016, not long after the change in medication, she was in ICU for a week, with greater than 10 embolisms in her lungs. Xarelto was continued upon released from the hospital. My understanding is Xarelto is fairly new. I contacted the John Hopkins Special Laboratory, seeking specific information on the clinical trials done on Xarelto. They sent list of research papers show the efficacy of Xarelto. I cannot find any evidence recommending Xarelto as an effective and safe alternative, and I feel like if my mom was not switched to Xarelto, she'd still be alive.

Peter N. Munsing · Answer

You should contact a member of the Nevada Justice Assn who handles medical cases--they give free consultations. The problem you run into is sveralfold--starting with the burden of proof being on your side to show that it was Xarelto and not something else that caused your mother's death. Depending on her age another factor is that juries tend to award less for people who are statistically at the end of their lifespan, and if a case costs $85,000 to bring plus 3 years or more of work, and the payoff IF you win is $180,000 with a very very substantial risk of getting zero, that isn't a good investment of the lawyer's time and money--remember, if they lose they get nothing.  Put it another way,would you risk that amount of money with a low probabliltiy of getting it back, plus a very substantial effort?

Q: Product liability, malpractice or something else?