Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a long-term lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe. When COPD symptoms become severe, a patient may need to be hospitalized for oxygen, breathing treatments, medications, and close monitoring.
Our client went to the hospital because of COPD. She did not die from her lung disease. Instead, she died after receiving a dangerous combination of blood-thinning medications that caused severe internal bleeding.
Blood thinners are commonly used in hospitals to prevent or treat blood clots. These medications can be lifesaving when they are needed and given correctly. However, because they interfere with the body’s ability to stop bleeding, they must be prescribed and monitored carefully.
In this case, our client was given two anticoagulant medications along with aspirin. All three medications made it more difficult for her blood to clot. The combination placed her at an increased risk for serious bleeding.
She developed massive internal bleeding. As she continued to lose blood, she became severely anemic, meaning she no longer had enough healthy red blood cells to carry the oxygen her organs needed. Her condition worsened, her kidneys began to fail, and she eventually developed disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC.
DIC is a life-threatening condition in which the body’s normal clotting system stops working properly. Small blood clots can form throughout the body, using up the platelets and clotting proteins needed to stop bleeding. As a result, the patient can develop both abnormal clotting and uncontrolled bleeding at the same time.
Our client died after this series of complications.
The Townsley Law Firm represented her family and recovered a settlement of over $500,000.
Stacking Blood-Thinning Medications Can Cause Dangerous Bleeding
Our client entered the hospital for treatment of COPD and died from complications related to medications she received during her hospitalization.
She was given two anticoagulants, commonly called blood thinners, as well as aspirin. Although aspirin is not technically an anticoagulant, it also makes it harder for the body to form a blood clot.
Normally, when a person begins bleeding, the body quickly works to stop it. Platelets gather at the injured area and clotting proteins help form a clot, essentially creating a plug that stops further blood loss.
Blood-thinning medications interfere with this process.
When more than one medication that prevents clotting is given at the same time, the risk of bleeding can increase. There are situations in which doctors intentionally use more than one of these medications, but there must be a medical reason for doing so. The patient’s bleeding risk must also be considered, and the patient must be carefully monitored for signs that bleeding has begun.
That is especially important in older patients and patients with other medical problems that may make serious bleeding more dangerous.
Hospitals have several safeguards designed to prevent medication errors. Physicians are responsible for ordering appropriate medications. Pharmacists review medication orders and can identify potentially dangerous drug combinations. Nurses administer the medications and monitor patients for changes in their condition. Hospitals also use medication records and electronic systems designed to identify duplicate medications and potentially dangerous drug interactions.
When those safeguards fail, a patient can receive a combination of medications that causes devastating harm.
How the Internal Bleeding Became Fatal
The blood-thinning medications made it difficult for our client’s body to stop bleeding. As the internal bleeding continued, she lost a dangerous amount of blood.
That blood loss caused severe anemia. Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. When too many are lost, the heart, brain, kidneys, and other organs may no longer receive enough oxygen to function normally.
Her kidneys then began to fail.
As her condition continued to deteriorate, she developed DIC, a catastrophic disorder involving both abnormal clotting and uncontrolled bleeding.
The easiest way to understand DIC is that the body’s clotting system becomes overwhelmed and begins working against itself. Tiny clots form throughout the bloodstream and use up the platelets and proteins the body needs to stop bleeding. Eventually, there may not be enough clotting material left to control bleeding elsewhere in the body.
For a patient who was already suffering from severe internal blood loss, DIC made an already critical situation even more dangerous.
She ultimately died from the complications that followed.
Who Is Responsible for a Medication Error Like This?
Medication safety is a shared responsibility.
A physician who orders blood-thinning medication must consider what other medications the patient is already receiving, whether the combination is medically necessary, and how much bleeding risk it creates.
Pharmacists provide another layer of protection by reviewing medication orders for duplicate therapies, drug interactions, inappropriate doses, and other potential dangers.
Nurses are responsible for safely administering medications and monitoring patients for signs of complications, including unusual bruising, falling blood counts, low blood pressure, weakness, changes in mental status, blood in the urine or stool, or other evidence of bleeding.
The hospital itself is also responsible for having medication-safety systems in place to help prevent dangerous errors from reaching the patient.
Under Louisiana law, a hospital may be held responsible for negligence by its employees while they are performing their jobs. A hospital may also be responsible for failures in its own policies, procedures, medication systems, and patient-safety practices.
In this case, our client entered the hospital needing treatment for a lung condition. She received multiple medications that interfered with her body’s ability to stop bleeding, suffered massive internal blood loss, developed severe anemia, kidney failure, and DIC, and ultimately died.
Her death shows why blood-thinning medications must be prescribed, reviewed, administered, and monitored with great care.
