Forget the fists and feet — Chuck Norris is using a lawsuit to do his fighting this time.
“Walker, Texas Ranger” star Norris and his wife Gena Norris have filed suit against a number of companies, including McKesson Corporation and Bracco Diagnostics Inc., claiming that Gena was “poisoned” by substances she was injected with while undergoing MRI procedures.
“Gena Norris was poisoned by free gadolinium and sustained gadolinium deposition disease following an otherwise routine MRI procedure. She was hospitalized numerous times when she suffered multiple, debilitating bouts of pain and burning throughout her body following the MRIs and resulting gadolinium poisoning,” the suit reads. “Some of Gena’s long-term injuries include cognitive deficits, body pain and burning; kidney damage; loss of energy and mobility; and difficulty breathing due to rib damage.”
The suit, which says that the Norris family has spent “millions of dollars” to save Gena’s life, is “seeking money damages from the drug companies in excess of $10 million.”
According to the suit, Gena Norris was administered the drugs ProHance and MultiHance, and nearly five years after the alleged poisoning, continues to require “regular stem cell therapies and other treatments to heal her central nervous system.”
The suit states that Gena Norris has experienced “burning pain in [her] abdomen and throughout her body; violent shaking; tremors; clouded mentation; confusion; weakness” as well as other symptoms.
According to the suit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court, gadolinium “is a highly toxic heavy metal” that “does not occur naturally in the human body,” and that the FDA recently said it will require additional warnings for gadolinium-based contrast agents, several of which have been banned in Europe.
TheWrap has reached out to McKesson for comment on the lawsuit. Bracco had no comment on the lawsuit specifically, but said in a statement that it “stands behind the safety of all of its products, the magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agents MultiHance and ProHance included.”
Gadolinium deposition disease, the suit states, “GDD is a man-made disease. It only occurs in patients who have received a gadolinium-based contrast agent for an MRI or an MRA.”
“Had Plaintiff and/or her healthcare providers been warned about the risks associated with gadolinium-based contrast agents … she would not have been administered gadolinium-based contrast agents and would not have been afflicted with GDD,” the suit continues.
The suit alleges negligence, fraud misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and other counts.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.