Medicare's Blood Drugs

Sylvia Tsoutsanis, a septuagenarian from a large Greek family in Massachusetts, had been diagnosed with cancer in the plasma cells of her bone marrow but had long since been in remission.

Nonetheless, in 2003 her doctor put her on a steady dose of the increasingly popular anti-anemia drugs, Procrit and Aranesp, paid for by her Medicaid. In 2007, the FDA issued a black box caution for the drugs, warning of serious and life-threatening side effects that could hasten death among cancer and dialysis patients; but the warning did not come in time for Tsoutsanis. In 2008, she died with a brain full of tumors that her family now believes was related to the anemia drug regimen.   Full Read