Epogen harm

[Wizard]

If you or another patient has been harmed by EPO refer to www.dialysisethics.org an overuse of Epogen is associated with heart damage.  Corporate dialysis facilities have been over using this drug for profiteering and heart damage in some dialysis patients have occured.  Hit the "contact us" on the dialysisethics.org web page for the toll free telephone number and speak to Arlene who will refer you to a legal department for help.

[stauffenberg]

Many of the worst symptoms of dialysis, such as utter and perpetual exhaustion and hypersomnia, come from the fact that patients are severely anemic.  While the normal hemoglobin level for males is 140 to 170, the average renal patient has a hemoglobin target of about 120, which has to make them extremely tired all the time.  EPO, which is necessary to provide anything even approaching a normal hemoglobin level for dialysis patients, unfortunately has side-effects and has been known to increase the chances of heart attack, strokes, and clotting.  The only alternative to EPO is a transplant, which is getting increasingly difficult to obtain, given that the number of dialysis patients is now rising much faster than the rate of organ donation, or blood transfusions, which are themselves dangerous, since the purity of the blood supply is never 100% certain, and transfusions raise the patient's anti-body level, making a successful transplant more difficult.

So what is a nephrologist, a drug company, or a patient to do with respect to the dilemma posed by this alternative between a dangerous drug and a debilitating medical condition?  Assessments of the risk/benefit balance are necessarily subjective, since for some patients, having enough energy to live well now may be worth the increased risk of a heart attack or stroke, while others may prefer a greater security of a longer life, even if that life is made much less valuable by low hemoglobin levels.

In short, I don't think this is a promising case for class-action tort lawyers to make a bundle.  Old-fashioned ambulance chasing may be less remunerative, but it is more likely to produce results.

[goofynina]

Even if there was "damage"  how do we know exactly it is from the Epogen? 

[Bajanne]

Even if there was "damage"  how do we know exactly it is from the Epogen? 

Excellent question, Goofynina.  What's the answer?
I am from a culture where we don't sue doctors/hospitals, and class-action is unheard of (except from US ads and programs).