Gadolinium
 Gadolinium |
Gadolinium Side Effects |
NSF / NFD |
Gadolinium Lawsuits |
Daily Journal
Patient Sues Over Dyes From Imaging
By Rebecca Beyer
Daily Journal Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES - Peter Gerber thought his kidney transplant would give him a new lease on life.
But after the successful transplant, his doctors diagnosed him with an incurable and fatal disease they say was caused by a dye used in medical imaging procedures that were necessary during his kidney failure.
Now, Gerber, 72, is suing the manufacturers, distributors and imaging facilities that made, sold and used the gadolinium-based dyes to take magnetic resonance images and magnetic resonance angiographies of his body. Gerber v. Bayer Corp., CGC-07-468577 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 26, 2007).
His suit may be the first of its kind to be filed in California.
"Mr. Gerber was never warned that there was any kind of risk associated with gadolinium, let alone NSF," said Lawrence J. Gornick, one of Gerber's attorneys. "Because of that, he developed a life-threatening disease that will most likely take his life in a horrible way."
Gornick, of Levin Simes Kaiser & Gornick in San Francisco, said his client was unavailable for comment.
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. and GE Healthcare Inc. are listed as defendants. They manufacture Magnevist and Omniscan, respectively. Both products are gadolinium-based dyes that imaging technicians injected into Gerber.
A representative from Bayer did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
A GE spokesman said the company could not comment on specific litigation. He said a "definitive causal relationship" between NSF and gadolinium-based contrast agents in people with renal failure has not been established.
The companies added warning labels to their product in September, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report.
A handful of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of people with NSF, including two in Ohio and Florida.
Gornick believes Gerber's suit is the first to be filed in California. The attorney, who plans to file suits for seven other clients with NSF diagnoses, expects gadolinium to be "a significant tort on the national scene" in the next 18 months.
Unlike other product-liability cases, like those involving the painkiller Vioxx, causation is easier to establish, he said.
"There is only one identified cause of NSF, and that's gadolinium," Gornick said. "And there is only one way gadolinium gets into the human body, and that's through these contrasting agents."
Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, which causes human tissue to harden and thicken, prohibiting joint movement, has been described in medical literature since 1997. The FDA has received reports of 250 cases. The disease can be fatal if it reaches internal organs.
In 2006, the link between gadolinum-based dyes and the disease was publicized after 25 people with kidney failure developed the disease shortly after having been injected with the dyes for medical imaging.
According to Gerber's complaint, individuals with impaired kidney function cannot properly eliminate gadolinium. Over time, if the product is not eliminated, the protective seal used to prevent contact with human tissue is removed.
Gerber's complaint states that defendants have known of the risk of gadolinium in individuals with impaired kidney function since 1994.
In 2006, the FDA warned health care professionals about the link.
Bruce W. Blakely, of Flaxman & Blakely in Mill Valley, also represents Gerber. The two knew each other because they both flew as private-citizen air-patrol pilots in the Marin County Sheriff's Department.
Blakely said Gerber was ready to enjoy his retirement and his late-life marriage to a college sweetheart, Miriam Goldberg, when he was diagnosed with NSF.
Gerber and Goldberg dated in their 20s. Forty years later, Gerber tried to find Goldberg; while he was doing so, a private investigator whom Goldberg had hired found him.
The two have been married eight years.
Goldberg is also a plaintiff in the case. She cared for Gerber before his kidney transplant and continues to help him in his fight against NSF.
Gornick said he expects to ask for many millions of dollars in compensatory and special damages.
Levin Simes Kaiser & Gornick, LLP
44 Montgomery Street, 36th floor
San Francisco, CA 94104
Ph: 1.800.901.4001
Fax: 415.981.1270
