Fleet Attorney » lawsuits against Fleet http://www.fleetattorney.net Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:14:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Lawsuits mount against maker of over-the-counter bowel cleanser http://www.fleetattorney.net/news/2009/09/10/lawsuits-mount-against-maker-of-over-the-counter-bowel-cleanser/ http://www.fleetattorney.net/news/2009/09/10/lawsuits-mount-against-maker-of-over-the-counter-bowel-cleanser/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:00:41 +0000 Jennifer Walker-Journey http://www.fleetattorney.net/?p=314 SOURCE: Fleet Attorney › Lawsuits mount against maker of over-the-counter bowel cleanser

]]> fleet product boxes 150x150 Lawsuits mount against maker of over the counter bowel cleanserThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning on oral sodium phosphates (OSPs) came late last year, but as early as 2003, doctors were beginning to make the link between OSP pills and solutions used to clear the bowel before colonoscopies and serious and permanent kidney injuries. As more and more reports of kidney damage and even complete kidney failure began to pour in to the FDA, the agency finally issued a mild warning in 2005. The black box warning on prescription OSP products would come three years later, after 21 more reports of serious kidney injuries. Soon after that FDA warning, C.B. Fleet quickly pulled its over-the-counter OSP products off the market.

OSP products include the prescription brands and Osmo Prep, as well as OTC brands including Phospha-soda. Over-the-counter OSP products are considered safe if used in low doses to treat constipation. But began marketing the product in higher doses as a bowel cleanser, which prompted the same risk of kidney damage and the form of kidney injury known as acute phosphate nephropathy.

OSPs work by pulling fluid from the body and out the colon, causing a laxative effect. While the body is purging itself of fluids, calcium-phosphate crystals can form in the kidneys, blocking the renal tubes. Symptoms of OSP-related kidney damage can come immediately or take as long as a few days or few weeks to surface. These symptoms include lethargy, drowsiness, decreased urine output, and swelling of the legs, ankles and feet. Often, the diagnosis isn’t immediately linked to use of OSP.

To date, more than 50 have been filed against by people who suffered kidney injury from use of OSPs, including one recently settled in Virginia in which the lone plaintiff was awarded $10 million.

SOURCE: Fleet Attorney › Lawsuits mount against maker of over-the-counter bowel cleanser

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