Have you been experiencing excessively watery eyes after beginning treatment with Taxotere? Has your doctor diagnosed you with serious or permanent medical conditions and injuries that have been linked to your use of Taxotere? When you’ve been injured by dangerous medications, you deserve to pursue financial compensation from the companies responsible for putting those medications onto the market. The Oakland, CA Taxotere watery eyes lawsuit attorneys of Hotze Runkle PLLC can help you obtain financial recovery from the pharmaceutical companies.
Taxotere, the brand name of the drug docetaxel, was developed and marketed by the pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis for the treatment of breast cancer. Taxotere has also been used to treat other types of cancers. Taxotere is used in chemotherapy treatment to shrink tumors and prevent cancer cells from spreading to the lymph nodes and throughout the body.
While Taxotere has successfully been used to treat cancer, many patients have experienced an odd side effect of excessively watery eyes, which began when those patients were undergoing treatment with Taxotere. Patients reported their eyes becoming so watery that they had difficulty with daily activities like driving and reading. Medical researchers have since identified Taxotere as the cause of patients’ excessively watery eyes and report that this side effect represents a serious medical condition that can lead to permanent injury.
Patients who have suffered from excessively watery eyes after taking Taxotere have filed lawsuits against Sanofi-Aventis, alleging that the company concealed their knowledge that Taxotere can cause excessively watery eyes and failed to disclose the risks of this side effect to doctors and their patients.
Taxotere Use Causes Watery Eyes
If you’ve undergone cancer treatment with Taxotere at Kaiser East Bay Cancer Center or other treatment facility and have begun experiencing watery eyes, you may have suffered from adverse side effects from your treatment. Taxotere can be given in one of several different treatment regimens, including weekly treatments, biweekly treatments, or treatments every three weeks, depending on the type and stage of cancer.
Any type of Taxotere treatment regimen can result in a patient developing excessively watery eyes. Watery eyes result from a medical condition known as epiphora, which is caused by chronic inflammation of the canaliculus. Each eyelid contains one canaliculus. This is a tube-like structure that runs from the eye into the nasal cavity that allows tears to naturally drain.
The inflammation that occurs from epiphora can eventually interrupt the natural flow of tears, leading to a more serious medical condition known as canalicular stenosis.
Is There a Cure for Watery Eyes Caused by Using Taxotere?
Epiphora can result from inflammation of the canaliculi caused by allergies, the common cold, or another nasal infection. With these causes, the inflammation will eventually subside on its own. However, epiphora caused by Taxotere is a far more serious medical condition that requires treatment.
Epiphora and canalicular stenosis can be avoided through preventative treatment involving placing stents in the canaliculi to help keep them open if they become inflamed. The stents can later be removed after a patient finishes their Taxotere treatment.
However, if epiphora is allowed to go untreated, it can eventually lead to infection and to canalicular stenosis, a condition characterized by the closing of the canaliculi. Once a canaliculus completely closes, the condition becomes permanent. A permanent blockage of the canaliculi cannot be reversed. Instead, treatment options focus on easing the symptoms of canalicular stenosis.
Why Does Taxotere Use Cause Canalicular Stenosis?
Taxotere causes canalicular stenosis due to the way that the chemotherapy drug interacts with a patient’s bodily fluids. Taxotere can get into a patient’s tears. As tears naturally drain through the canaliculi, Taxotere can irritate and inflame the tissues of the canaliculi, leading to epiphora and canalicular stenosis.
Sanofi-Aventis, the maker of Taxotere, is alleged to have known that Taxotere can cause canalicular stenosis and failed to disclose this risk to physicians and patients. If knowledge of the risk of canalicular stenosis with Taxotere was withheld from patients, that means patients were deprived of the ability to fully evaluate the risks and benefits of treatment with Taxotere. It also means that patients were deprived of the opportunity to seek preventative care that could help them avoid permanent damage from canalicular stenosis.
How to Treat Canalicular Stenosis
Upon beginning Taxotere treatment, a patient can avoid complications of canalicular stenosis by having temporary stents implanted into the canaliculi to prevent them from closing.
Once a patient has complete blockage of their canaliculi from canalicular stenosis, treatment options only include invasive surgery designed to help mitigate the symptoms. The primary treatment option involves a surgery called dacryocystorhinostomy, or DCR.
In DCR, the surgeon will craft a new structure around the eye that will allow tears to bypass a blocked canaliculus and naturally drain into the nasal cavity. However, if a patient’s ocular structure cannot support an alternative channel to allow for the flow of tears, the recommended treatment involves a surgery called conjunctivodacryocystorhinostomy, or CDCR, in which the surgeon implants a small glass tube in place of the blocked canaliculus.
Patients who undergo DCR or CDCR often require additional surgeries in their lifetime to maintain the structures created by the surgery. These surgical procedures also come with risks of complications such as infections, scarring, damage to nasal structures and resulting respiratory issues, or vision loss or blindness.
Process of Recovering Compensation for Watery Eyes Caused by Taxotere
If you have experienced excessively watery eyes after undergoing cancer treatment with Taxotere, you may be entitled to seek financial compensation for the serious and permanent injury you suffered due to side effects. Compensation may be available for losses such as:
- Costs of medical treatment of the injuries caused by side effects from Taxotere
- Lost income or earning potential
- Physical disfigurement or disability
- Pain and suffering
- Lost enjoyment of life
- Emotional distress
In California, you typically have two years to file a lawsuit against Sanofi-Aventis to pursue compensation. You can seek money for the expenses and losses that you’ve incurred due to suffering from excessive watery eyes and canalicular stenosis. The two-year period for filing begins from the date that you were first injured by taking Taxotere or from the date that you discovered that you had been harmed by the side effects of Taxotere,
The Oakland, CA Taxotere watery eyes lawsuit attorneys of Hotze Runkle PLLC stand ready to aggressively pursue financial recovery on your behalf. Our attorneys can help you secure compensation and hold Sanofi-Aventis accountable. We can pursue compensation for you either through a settlement or by advocating your case in court or at trial.
How an Oakland Taxotere Lawsuit Attorney from Hotze Runkle PLLC Can Help
Fighting cancer is already a tough, draining experience for any person to go through. You shouldn’t have to also deal with side effects from your treatment. This is doubly true when the treatment for those side effects may require invasive surgical treatment and could permanently impact your quality of life.
The ordeal seems particularly unthinkable when you were never warned about the possible risks from your chemo treatments. More importantly, you shouldn’t have to bear the financial burdens and consequences of having to seek medical care or be unable to work due to the effects of canalicular stenosis.
After you’ve suffered harm from the side effects of Taxotere, you may want to hold Sanofi-Aventis accountable for what you’ve endured. But the idea of going up against a major pharmaceutical corporation can seem like a daunting proposition. You don’t have to pursue your claim on your own. Let the Oakland Taxotere watery eyes lawsuit attorneys of Hotze Runkle PLLC handle all the difficult work in your case so that you can stay focused on treating and recovering from your canalicular stenosis.
Our Oakland Taxotere watery eyes lawsuit attorneys can help you pursue financial compensation and justice from the pharmaceutical company that put a dangerous drug onto the market that causes side effects that can result in permanent injury. We’ll walk you through your legal rights and options for seeking financial recovery from the companies responsible for your watery eyes and canalicular stenosis. We will make sure you understand what to expect at every stage of your claim, keeping you up to date on the progress of your case.
Do You Have a Taxotere Lawsuit Claim?
You trusted Sanofi-Aventis to put a safe cancer treatment drug onto the market. They didn’t. You deserve to seek accountability and justice after you’ve been harmed from side effects of taking Taxotere. You especially deserve justice if the pharmaceutical company hid knowledge that Taxotere can cause excessively watery eyes that can lead to permanent damage, depriving you of the ability to make an informed decision in your care or to seek preventative treatments to avoid the complications of canalicular stenosis.
The Oakland, CA Taxotere watery eyes lawsuit attorneys of Hotze Runkle PLLC want to help you advocate for your rights and hold negligent and reckless pharmaceutical companies accountable for their actions.
To learn more about whether you may have a claim for compensation after being injured by Taxotere, take our online quiz to see if you’re eligible to seek financial recovery for your losses.