Once again, the blood-thinning drug heparin has been linked to fatalities in patients. Five patients at Beebe Medical Center in Delaware fell ill after being treated with heparin IV bags. Two of the patients have died.

The IV bags contained diluted heparin that has been approved for a number of blood-thinning purposes. All five bags came from the pharmaceutical company Baxter International. This is not the first time that Baxter has been linked to heparin fatalities. In 2008, they had to recall thousands of cheap, tainted heparin products.

These two recent deaths have prompted the Food and Drug Administration to launch an investigation into the incident. So far, the FDA has not accused Baxter of distributing tainted heparin, nor have they implied that heparin itself may be less safe than previously thought. They said that it was only  “unusual” circumstances in the Delaware deaths that made them decide to investigate.

An independent lab is currently testing the Baxter heparin used at Beebe.

The Food and Drug Administration has announced that the deaths of two patients treated with possibly contaminated heparin may have been an isolated incident.

Five patients recently fell ill in a Delaware medical center after being treated with heparin IV bags supplied by Baxter International. Two of the patients, a 71-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman, have died, and a third patient remains hospitalized. These three people all suffered cerebral hemorrhages.

However, the FDA has found no evidence of contamination, nor have they received additional reports of fatalities or other serious injuries linked to heparin use. The FDA has determined that this incident alone is not enough to make any decisions about the production of heparin. FDA representatives have issued statements that patients should not worry about being treated with heparin.

Anyone who has suffered a defective drug injury should contact an experienced lawyer immediately as they may be eligible to receive compensation through a defective drug lawsuit.

Heparin is a drug given to patients to help prevent blood clots from becoming big and causing serious problems.  But now it is being investigated if heparin is the cause of sickening five patients at the Beebe Medical Center in Delaware.

Wallace Hudson, vice president for corporate affairs at the Lewes Hospital, said that two of the sick patients have recovered, and no further cases have been discovered.  It is not certain when samples that have been sent to be tested will come back he said.  “We hope it’s soon.  We don’t want this thing dragging on,” he stated.  “But we need to find out what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he concluded.

The three other patients have been transferred to the University of Maryland Medical Center and the Christiana Hospital.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the manufacturer of the heparin.  They recalled batches of the drug in 2008 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that it was contaminated.

The use of heparin has been suspended at Beebe.  Representatives from Baxter were said to be at Beebe to assist with an examination of the accident.

The ability of heparin to repress clotting and coagulation makes it suspect for serious side effects if given in too large doses.  In itself, heparin is not a defective drug but some shipments of the drug, which were made in China, were tainted.

Three of the sickened patients had internal bleeding according to Hudson.  Beebe has notified the FDA along with the Delaware Health Care Operations Center.