Chuck Norris fights bad guys in fictional dramas, but there’s nothing fictional about his fighting MRI dye gadolinium makers. After the action-star’s wife became stricken with mysterious mental confusion, deep muscle and bone pain, and strangely hardening skin, Mr. Norris and his wife Gena O’Kelley put two and two together. Gena had recently submitted to several injections of gadolinium prior to MRIs.What is Gadolinium?
A chemical element and a heavy metal, gadolinium can be found on the periodic table as “Gd,” but most of us associate it with medical scans. It is often used as a contrast agent to make MRI or some MRA scans sharper. Some 30 million people are exposed to gadolinium every year, according to the American College of Radiology.
What’s the Problem with Gadolinium?
Most people are lucky and see no side effects after being injected with gadolinium dye. They apparently pass most of the gadolinium dye through urination. Others are not so lucky.
Gadolinium Deposition Disease
Sometimes the gadolinium dye does not exit the body quickly enough. Gena O’Kelley had apparently received more gadolinium than her body could abide. She and Chuck Norris consequently filed a lawsuit against several gadolinium-dye making companies. According to their lawsuit petition, Gena was stricken with gadolinium deposition disease. A law firm is representing Mr. Norris and his wife in a suit against three different companies for $10 million in damages. The two are suing MRI dye maker Bracco. Other MRI dye makers include General Electric (Omniscan) and Bayer (Magnevist).
FDA on Gadolinium MRI Dye
The FDA announced Dec. 19, 2017 that it was requiring a “new class warning and other safety measures for all gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) concerning gadolinium remaining in patients’ bodies, including the brain, for months to years after receiving these drugs.”
The agency was quick to add gadolinium retention has not been “directly linked to adverse health effects in patients with normal kidney function.” FDA also “concluded that the benefit of all approved GBCAs continues to outweigh any potential risks.” (In every case? Apparently, for that agency.)
The FDA did, however, also throw patients a bone, stating that it was requiring “several actions to alert health care professionals and patients about gadolinium retention after an MRI using a GBCA, and actions that can help minimize problems. These include requiring a new patient Medication Guide, providing educational information that every patient will be asked to read before receiving a GBCA. FDA is also requiring manufacturers of GBCAs to conduct human and animal studies to further assess the safety of these contrast agents.”
Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF)
The FDA also claims the only known adverse health effect related to gadolinium retention is nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), which the agency says occurs only in people with pre-existing kidney failure.”
The FDA does, however, also admit on its gadolinium “safety alert” that it has “received reports of adverse events involving multiple organ systems in patients with normal kidney function. A causal association between these adverse events and gadolinium retention could not be established.”
Did you catch that? FDA admits seeing adverse events reports but sees no causality. So we are all to simply just accept the overarching announcement that the benefits of gadolinium injection outweigh the risks if we have “normal” kidney function?
Chuck Norris fights MRI Dye Gadolinium Makers
Chuck Norris doesn’t like it, and neither do we. Our law firm handled several NSF cases for people who died of that terrible disease, their bodies and their organs slowly shutting down until their lungs no longer worked. We saw the terrible results of gadolinium poisoning firsthand. But because gadolinium deposition disease shy of NSF is not yet recognized by the FDA, the fight Chuck Norris is taking on could be hard to win, but we sure hope he and his wife do win it. We’ve spoken to too many people in similar circumstances to theirs, people who also say they’ve developed a host of maladies following one or several MRIs’ with gadolinium dye.
Free Legal Consultation
If you or someone you love is suffering from the ill effects of gadolinium dye, contact our law offices for a free legal consultation regarding a potential MRI Dye Lawsuit.
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