An Indian Man Has Died of Fournier's Gangrene in a UK Hospital

Diabetes Drug Infection Lawsuit News

A botched catheter insertion procedure has caused a cancer patient's penis to necrotize and fall off after being released from a UK hospital

Monday, December 31, 2018 - The most common category of medical malpractice is not leaving a sponge or a clamp in a patient after surgery as would be expected, but instead is developing an infection during a medical procedure. Approximately 10% of patients undergoing a hospital procedure will contract a healthcare-associated infection (HAI). Urinary tract infections are the most common form of HAI. Infections are extremely painful and can even cause death, yet they can be effectively treated with intravenous antibiotics and externally by opening the wounded area to let the infection drain. Most infections occur at the surgical site and go unreported by the media. It is not until an infection affects the genital area does it attract the media's attention and become front page news. Recently a man in the United Kingdom developed necrotizing fasciitis of the penis after a surgical assistant botched the insertion of a penal catheter inserted to drain the patient's bladder during surgery. The patient's penis "self-amputated" after turning black and rotting about ten days after the initial hospital visit. The patient had been having minor surgery on his neck.

According to the Daily Star, a 65-year olf UK patient developed Fornier's Gangrene causing his penis to fall off. "The British Medical Journal suggests that the problems were caused by a botched procedure. As the 65-year-old was undertaking cancer treatment, medics tried to put a catheter into his penis to drain the bladder. The medical journal claims that attempt ended up damaging tissue inside the man's urethra. This caused his intimate area to darken in color as it filled with fluid." Diabetes drug infection lawsuits are being filed by men and women affected by Fornier's Gangrene.

Doctors at the UK hospital attributed the rare case of Fournier's Gangrene to the patient's immune system that had been weakened by cancer treatments the patient was undergoing. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to physicians that Fournier's Gangrene can be caused in patients that are taking certain diabetes drugs. The list of drugs, called sodium-glucose transporters (SGLT2)s and are given to diabetes patients to control the blood's glucose levels, include, according to Medicinenet.com, canagliflozin (Invokana), dapagliflozin (Farxiga), empagliflozin (Jardiance), empagliflozin/linagliptin (Glyxambi), empagliflozin/metformin (Synjardy), and dapagliflozin/metformin (Xigduo XR)." It is unclear as to whether or not the man was taking any of these medications.

On August 30, 2018, the FDA issued a warning that the drugs listed above can cause Fournier's Gangrene, better known as the dreaded "flesh-eating disease" and one's fear is compounded by the fact that Fournier's Gangrene affects a person's genitals. The FDA announced 12 known cases and one death from this form of necrotizing fasciitis in diabetes patients taking these drugs. The FDA reported: "Based on new data from two large clinical trials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that the type 2 diabetes medicine canagliflozin (Invokana, Invokamet, Invokamet XR) causes an increased risk of leg and foot amputations. We are requiring new warnings, including our most prominent Boxed Warning, to be added to the canagliflozin drug labels to describe this risk."

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Lawyers for Fournier's Gangrene

OnderLaw, LLC is a St. Louis personal injury law firm handling serious injury and death claims across the country. Its mission is the pursuit of justice, no matter how complex the case or strenuous the effort. The Onder Law Firm has represented clients throughout the United States in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation such as Pradaxa, Lexapro and Yasmin/Yaz, where the firm's attorneys held significant leadership roles in the litigation, as well as Actos, DePuy, Risperdal and others. The Onder Law Firm has won more than $300 million in four talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits in St. Louis. Law firms throughout the nation often seek its experience and expertise on complex litigation.