Heparin: "We Lost My Dad"

Lexington, NCMore people are learning that Heparin may have caused their loved one's death. Kelly C. says her father was given Heparin right before he fell into a coma from which he never regained consciousness. She believes that Heparin may have been the cause of his coma and, ultimately, his death.

Kelly says her father had been on dialysis for approximately three years, but felt sick every time he underwent dialysis, so he eventually stopped. One Friday at the end of March 2008, Kelly's father said he did not feel well and needed to go to the hospital. However, Kelly says that although her father did not feel well, he was communicating fine with her and her mother and even got himself on the gurney.

"My father had been to the hospital earlier that week," says Kelly. "He was there for a few days before he discharged himself. I don't know if he was given Heparin that first time he was in the hospital. But I know for certain he was given Heparin that second time.

"When my dad got to the hospital on Friday, the staff kept asking me about his low blood pressure. I told them that he had never had a problem with low blood pressure before. They kept insisting that his low blood pressure was an issue but it really had never been a problem before to that day."

The hospital determined that his blood pressure was too low to put him on dialysis, so they gave Kelly's father a central line to try to bring his blood pressure up. It was during this procedure that he was given Heparin. In fact, Kelly's father was in the hospital for 10 days before he passed away and was on Heparin the entire time.

Unfortunately, Kelly's father fell into a coma during the procedure to insert the central line. "He just slipped into a coma and he never knew us another minute after that," Kelly says. "That day, when he was going to the hospital he didn't feel well, but he was talking. But once they put that central line in, we lost my dad."

Kelly's father died on April 8, 2008 when his heart stopped. "Of all the things we dealt with with my father, low blood pressure was not an issue. In that week at the hospital, his blood pressure bottomed out. It was extremely, extremely low.

"My mother read about Heparin and we found out that there were some other deaths with Heparin before my father died, at about the doses he got.

People who have had loved ones die after being exposed to Heparin are now filing lawsuits alleging that the Heparin was contaminated. If you or a loved one was exposed to Heparin and suffered serious side effects, you may want to contact a lawyer to discuss your legal options.