Kentucky's Attorney General Andy Beshear is suing Fresenius Medical Care Holdings because he believes the company put its patients at risk through the use of a blood screening product that has been shown to cause heart attacks, stroke or arrhythmia, WVTQ reports.
Here's what you should know.
1. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings is the largest provider of dialysis and renal care products in the nation.
2. Mr. Beshear alleges the company of exposing its patients to unnecessary risk through the use of its GranuFlo product.
"It's abundantly clear that, for several years, Fresenius withheld GranuFlo-related information from its own clinical staff and from the clinical staff of it's customers, many of them right here in Kentucky. Had the company been ethical and not profit-hungry, many of the heart attacks or deaths could have been prevented," he said.
3. The GranuFlo product had a recall issued for it by the FDA in 2012.
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm305630.htm
4. A lawyer for Fresenius said the following: "GranuFlo and Naturalyte acid concentrates continue today to be market leaders, as they have been for many years. The FDA has never suggested that either product should be withdrawn from the market, that the product compositions should be changed in any way, or that the products are unsafe when used as directed and prescribed."
5. Mr. Beshear is seeking damages and civil penalties through his suit. If the state wins, the penalties would be returned to the state's Medicaid program.
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