Baxter Althane disaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since September 2006. (help, talk) |
In autumn 2001 a series of 53 sudden deaths occurred in Spain, Croatia, Italy, Germany, Taiwan, Colombia and the USA (mainly Nebraska and Texas), affecting renal failure patients. All of them had received hospital treatment with Althane hemodialysis equipment, a product range manufactured by Baxter International, USA.
Although official investigations initially found no link between the cases, Baxter Co. eventually published its own findings, admitting that a perfluorohydrocarbon-based cleaning fluid was not properly removed from the tubings during manufacture. Baxter also announced discontinuation and permanent recall of all Althene equipment. Families of most international victims were compensated by Baxter voluntarily, while US plaintiffs settled via a class action lawsuit. The company continues to manufacture kidney machines of a newer design.
