Did Tainted Heparin Kill My Brother?

Montreal, QCBob's brother Paul was diabetic, and was suffering complications from his diabetes in November 2007, for which he was hospitalized. His complications involved water retention, which was treated successfully. However, while Bob's brother was in the hospital he was given heparin, possibly tainted, and shortly thereafter he died. Bob believes that the heparin may be responsible.

Bob went to visit his brother in the hospital almost every day. In fact it was Bob who was instrumental in having his brother treated in hospital, so he felt very responsible for his brother's welfare. He visited him every day, except the last Saturday before his brother died. It was his wife's birthday and celebrations were planned. But Bob was confident about this brother's situation, he was making a good recovery.

But when Bob went to the hospital on Sunday to see his brother, he found him in the intensive care unit. In the space of just 24 hours, his brother's situation had gone from stable to critical. "The doctors didn't know what was wrong with him," Bob told Lawyers and Settlements. The following day Paul was taken to emergency. "I had this terrible feeling, but I didn't know anything about what was going on," Bob said.

The doctors told Bob that the symptoms his brother had didn't make sense. "They were baffled," he said. "I was suspicious." Because Bob hadn't been at the hospital on the Saturday he didn't know what had happened to his brother - what medications he may have been given. "The doctors' thought my brother had c-difficile, which is why he was put into intensive care unit," Bob said. His brother died November 13, 2007. "His autopsy said he died of an acute myocardial infarction," he said. But if his brother had been doing so well up until the Saturday, what went so horribly wrong in such a short period of time?

"My brother was definitely given heparin in the three or four days he was in the hospital. Thursday or Friday. I don't know why he was given heparin," Bob said.

Curious to find out more, Bob started doing some investigation on the Internet. When he came across the information on the tainted heparin, he recognized the symptoms. "When I heard about the tainted heparin in the United States and then saw what was happening to my brother, it seemed to be the same thing to me. My brother had breathing problems, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. But the doctors weren't talking," Bob said.

Bob was suspicious about what had happened to his brother because several years ago he himself had been given medications that had worsened his health status.

As Bob's brother was diabetic he would have been more susceptible to infection, all the more reason for heightened vigilance amongst his health care providers. And Bob's brother's death occurred around the time the initial round of tainted heparin infections started coming to light. Bob, understandably, would like to get to the bottom of this.

"My brother liked to walk - he didn't have a car - he walked everywhere. He was so afraid of doctors and hospitals," Bob said. Look what happened. I feel like it's my fault," Bob said.