Did you begin a chemotherapy regimen with Taxotere after your diagnosis of cancer? Has excessive eye-watering affected your daily routine, resulting in additional medical bills to manage your symptoms? If so, Hotze Runkle PLLC can review your case and determine if the drug company should be held liable for the injury you sustained.
Sanofi-Aventis is a well-known pharmaceutical company that created Taxotere to treat cancers, such as breast cancer, neck cancer, prostate cancer, stomach cancer, and many others. It targets cancer cells and shrinks them, so they’re unable to grow and spread to other regions of the body. However, it can also lead to a range of symptoms that the drug company hid from doctors and patients.
Possible Symptoms Taxotere Can Cause
One of the first symptoms to develop while a patient uses Taxotere during chemotherapy is epiphora. It causes excessive and uncontrollable eye-watering. It’s the result of inflammation to a vital eye structure, the canaliculus. Inflammation leads to chronic infections that form obstructions, preventing tears from passing through to the nasal cavity.
Other common symptoms caused by Taxotere are:
- Cloudy eye lens
- Blurred vision
- Dry eyes
- Headaches
- Central vision loss
- Sensitivity to light
- Eyelid swelling
- Additional eye infections
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, you should notify your oncologist immediately and switch to a different chemo drug. Canalicular Stenosis could form if you don’t treat the inflammation or eye infections promptly. With proper medical intervention, you could potentially avoid the development of this permanent medical condition.
Taxotere Could Lead to Irreversible Damage
Epiphora could worsen, causing additional symptoms and eventually Canalicular Stenosis. The various symptoms can range from minor to severe. Some are debilitating, creating daily challenges for patients while performing their jobs and routine tasks.
While studying the effects of Taxotere on cancer patients, medical researchers discovered a dangerous link. While secretions from the drug travel through a patient’s body, it comes in direct contact with various bodily fluids, including tears. This interaction causes inflammation of the canaliculus, causing obstructions that block the tears from funneling towards the nasal cavity.
These obstructions can eventually result in the closure of the canaliculus. There is one canaliculus on each eyelid. When tears have nowhere else to go, they become trapped on the surface of the eye. Excessive eye-watering occurs during blinking due to this build-up. The results of the studies determined that the chemotherapy regimen you’re on won’t have an impact on whether you develop Canalicular Stenosis. You could experience symptoms whether you receive Taxotere once a week, every other week, or once every three weeks.
Treatments You Could Seek for Your Canalicular Stenosis Diagnosis
You have two options that could potentially alleviate your symptoms and prevent your condition from worsening. Discuss them with an ophthalmologist to determine which would be the better choice. Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) uses adjacent structures to build a new passageway for your tears so they don’t become trapped behind the blocked canaliculus.
If the canaliculus damage has progressed significantly, the surgeon might not have adequate structures to create a passageway. Instead, they would insert a tiny glass tube called a Jones tube over the damaged canaliculus so tears can flow into the nasal cavity as usual.
Both surgical options can manage the symptoms of Canalicular Stenosis; however, there are associated risks, such as:
- Blindness
- Sinusitis
- Migrating or displaced Jones tube
- Eye infections
- Permanent facial scarring
- Damage to tissue and other structures
- Sinusitis
- Uncontrollable bleeding at the incision site
The side effects caused by the two surgeries might not seem worth the risk. Your doctor will evaluate your condition to determine if you qualify for either option and whether one will offer some relief for the symptoms you’ve developed. You can continue your chemo treatment while treating your Canalicular Stenosis symptoms, but you should immediately stop using Taxotere.
Compensation You Could Potentially Recover from the Taxotere Manufacturer
Taxotere can lead to various symptoms and a permanent medical condition that requires extensive medical care to treat. If you suffered economic, physical, and emotional losses, you might be entitled to compensation from Sanofi-Aventis. You could file a lawsuit for the money you need to pay for:
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Lost wages
- Lost earning capacity
- Medical bills
- Pain and suffering
A statute of limitations determines the timeframe for filing a lawsuit to compensate for your past and future losses. The statute of limitations you must follow in New Mexico is three years. That means you have to sue the drug manufacturer within three years from the date you sustained injuries from Taxotere. After this deadline passes, you won’t have the opportunity to file a lawsuit in this matter.
The excessive eye-watering Taxotere lawyers of Hotze Runkle PLLC can review your total losses to determine the value of your case. You could face obstacles during the legal process, so it’s crucial that you hire us immediately after your Canalicular Stenosis diagnosis or at the start of the unusual symptoms. We can develop a legal strategy to prove that your injuries resulted from the chemotherapy treatment and show that you deserve a monetary award for the suffering you endured.
Contact Hotze Runkle PLLC to Discuss Your Legal Options
At Hotze Runkle PLLC, we take cases like this seriously. We know the impact your injury has had on your life. It causes significant emotional strain, massive medical debt, and stress. You’re not liable for what happened to you, and you shouldn’t be responsible for the costs you incurred. We’ve been able to recover over $100 million in compensation for our clients, and we’re ready to do the same for you.
We have a proven track record of success when it comes to defective drug cases. We’re not afraid to fight against the injustices caused by large manufacturing companies. We use aggressive tactics and all the resources at our disposal to get our clients the money they’re owed. You deserve the maximum available compensation to heal your injuries and get your life back on track.
If you believe your symptoms started due to an adverse reaction to Taxotere, you might qualify for a lawsuit against Sanofi. Take our Case Evaluation Quiz today to find out more.