NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- More than two years after Fresenius Medical Care issued a GranuFlo recall (http://www.granuflolawsuit2014.com/) for two dialysis concentrates used to treat thousands of patients around the country, Bernstein Liebhard LLP notes that many of the company's dialysis clinics have been ranked  one-star, or  "much below average quality," by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to Modern Healthcare, a recent survey of the Dialysis Center Compare Website found that 259 Fresenius sites garnered that low rating, while just 53 received top rankings. What's more, the Fresenius dialysis clinics accounted for nearly half of all facilities nationwide to receive the one-star raking.

"Our Firm is currently representing numerous GranuFlo lawsuit plaintiffs who allegedly suffered life-threatening cardiovascular side effects following administration of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte concentrates at Fresenius dialysis clinics. As such, these findings are of great interest to us," says Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm is currently offering free GranuFlo lawsuit evaluations to dialysis patients who allegedly suffered cardiac arrest, heart attacks, stroke, sudden cardiac death or other serious cardiovascular side effects within 72 hours of a dialysis treatment involving the use of GranuFlo or NaturaLyte dialysis drugs.

GranuFlo and NaturaLyte Recall Litigation
GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are both dialysis concentrates that are used during treatments to remove toxins from patients' blood. In March 2012, Fresenius Medical Care issued an Urgent Product Notification for both concentrates that warned of dosage issues that could put patients at risk for serious and potentially life-threatening heart side effects. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) ultimately granted Class I recall status to the Urgent Product Notification, which indicates that a medical product poses a risk of serious injury or death.

According to a New York Times report published in June 2012, the FDA also launched an investigation into Fresenius Medical Care's timing of the GranuFlo recall. The agency's interest was piqued by an internal memo the company sent to its own dialysis clinics in November 2011 warning of severe health risks associated with GranuFlo. However, that memo was not shared with the agency, or thousands of other dialysis clinics that purchased GranuFlo and NaturaLyte from Fresenius. The FDA was trying to determine if Fresenius violated any regulations by failing to provide an earlier notification to the agency or its customer clinics.

Since the recall was announced, court records indicate that thousands of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte lawsuits have been filed in courts around the U.S. This includes at least 2,575 cases that are currently pending in the multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, where Bernstein Liebhard LLP is actively filing claims. (In re Fresenius GranuFlo/Naturalyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428) Thousands of others are pending in a state litigation established in Massachusetts' Middlesex County Superior Court. (In re: Consolidated Fresenius Cases, No. MICV2013-03400-O). All of these lawsuits similarly accuse Fresenius of failing to provide adequate warnings regarding the serious cardiovascular risks associated with GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, and of aggressively marketing the concentrates even after those dangers became known.

Dialysis patients who experienced life-threatening cardiovascular events that were allegedly caused by GranuFlo or NaturaLyte may be entitled to join this growing litigation. To learn more about filing a GranuFlo lawsuit, please visit Bernstein Liebhard LLP's website, or the Firm's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/granuflolawsuit. For additional information, and to arrange for a free case review, please (888) 340-4807.

About Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993. As a national law firm, Bernstein Liebhard LLP possesses all of the legal and financial resources required to successfully challenge billion dollar pharmaceutical and medical device companies. As a result, our attorneys and legal staff have been able to recover more than $3 billion on behalf of our clients. The Firm has been named by The National Law Journal to the Plaintiffs' Hot List, recognizing the top plaintiffs firms in the country, for the past 12 consecutive years. Bernstein Liebhard LLP is the only firm in the country to be named to this prestigious list every year since it was first published in 2003.

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Felecia L. Stern, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
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http://www.granuflolawsuit2014.com/
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