Have You Suffered Kidney Damage After a Colonoscopy, X-Ray or Surgery?

If you suffered kidney damage shortly after a colonoscopy, x-ray or surgery, you may have legalrights.

Before undergoing a colonoscopy, x-ray or surgery, patients must cleanse their bowels with one of a variety of different products. Until recently, doctors sometimes instructed patients to take an oral sodium phosphate solution (often abbreviated as “OSP” or “OSPS”) such as Fleet® Phospho-soda®. Used as bowel cleansers, these products frequently damage patients’ kidneys resulting in kidney dysfunction, dialysis or kidney transplant.

Touhy, Touhy, Buehler & Williams, LLP and O'Rourke & Moody are currently representing people who suffered kidney damage after taking Phospho-soda® to prepare for a colonoscopy, x-ray or surgery. Our primary goals in representing people injured by Phospho-soda® are as follows:

• to protect victims’ legal rights
• to ensure that victims receive proper treatment
• to obtain compensation for reduction in the quality of victims’ lives

If you have been injured by Phospho-soda® and would like an analysis, free of charge, as to whether you have a case, please submit the form on the right of this page or contact us directly at the email address or telephone number below.

About Fleet® Phospho-soda®

CB Fleet has manufactured and marketed Phospho-soda® as a laxative for over 100 years. Beginning in the early 1990s, Fleet began promoting a double dose of Phospho-soda® for use as a bowel cleanser to prepare patients for colonoscopies, x-rays and surgeries.

After promoting Phospho-soda® as a bowel cleanser for a few years, Fleet sought FDA approval of its double-dosing regimen. In 1996, the FDA refused to approve the double-dosing regimen because Fleet failed to demonstrate that it was safe. Fleet sought FDA approval once more but in 1998, the FDA again refused to approve the double-dosing regimen because Fleet failed to demonstrate that it was safe.

Despite failing to obtain the FDA’s approval of the double-dosing regimen, Fleet continued aggressively promoting a double dose of Phospho-soda® for use as a bowel cleanser.

In 2001, the FDA released a report warning consumers of safety issues with Phospho-soda®. A year later, Canadian authorities also warned about the safety of Phospho-soda®.

By 2003, renal pathologist Dr. Glen S. Markowitz linked the use of Phospho-soda® as a bowel cleanser to multiple cases of kidney failure. Between 2003 and 2005, Dr. Markowitz continued investigating these findings and published three articles discussing the dangers of Phospho-soda® and other oral sodium phosphate solutions.

On May 5, 2006, the FDA issued a safety alert warning healthcare professionals that “[a]cute phosphate nephropathy, a type of acute renal failure, is a rare, but serious adverse event associated with the use of oral sodium phosphates (OSP) for bowel cleansing.” An article published in 2007 estimated that approximately 1 in 100 users of OSP suffered kidney failure.

On December 11, 2008, the FDA issued another safety alert warning that “[i]n light of the continued receipt of reports of acute phosphate nephropathy, FDA is recommending that consumers not use over-the-counter OSPs for bowel cleansing.” The FDA now requires a boxed warning to accompany prescription OSP products. According to the FDA’s release:

OSP products should not be used by children under 18 years of age or in combination with other laxative products containing sodium phosphate. FDA is recommending that OSP prescription products be used with caution for bowel cleansing by the following at risk groups:

• people over 55 years of age,
• people who suffer from dehydration, kidney disease, acute colitis, or delayed bowel emptying, and
• people taking certain medicines that affect kidney function, such as diuretics (fluid pills), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (medications that lower blood pressure) angiotensin receptor blockers, (used to treat high blood pressure, heart or kidney failure) and possibly nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (similar to ibuprofen and other arthritis medications).

Following the FDA’s most recent safety alert, on December 15, 2008, Fleet finally recalled Phospho-soda® as well as EZ-Prep®, another over-the-counter bowel cleansing system.

Since 2004, hundreds of people injured by Phospho-soda® or other OSPs have brought lawsuits after suffering kidney damage resulting from the use of the products as a bowel cleanser. Many of these people have suffered kidney failure, chronic kidney disease or end stage renal disease. And in the worst cases, injured people have received a kidney transplant or are undergoing dialysis while awaiting a transplant.

About Touhy, Touhy, Buehler & Williams, LLP and O’Rourke
& Moody

We represented some of the first people who brought lawsuits against Fleet and have developed a specialty practice area for OSP kidney failure cases. Along with a network of lawyers handling other OSP kidney failure cases nationwide, we have the unique ability to protect your rights, ensure that you receive proper treatment, and help you obtain the most compensation for the injuries you have suffered.

We are happy to review your case free of charge if you submit the form on the right of this page or contact us directly at the email address or telephone number below.