Chuck Norris Sues 11 Drug Companies, Accuses Them Of Poisoning His Wife With Contrast Agent Used In MRI Scans

Actor Chuck Norris, 77, is reportedly suing 11 drug companies for “poisoning” his wife, 54-year-old former model Gena, with gadolinium, a heavy metal found in many contrast agents used to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Norris claims in a lawsuit filed against the manufacturing companies that the contrast agent “left [Gena] close to death with lifelong pain and weakness.”

Gena, Norris’ wife of 19 years, reportedly had three MRI scans done in a week early in 2013. The MRIs were done to confirm and assess suspected rheumatoid arthritis. Gena claims that injections of a gadolinium-based contrast agent that she received to enhance the clarity of the MRIs had adverse health effects. She claims that the injections left her chronically weak and fatigued. The adverse effects she suffered included chronic pain, breathing difficulties, tremors, cognitive issues, burning nerve pains, and kidney problems. She said the treatment to alleviate the effects included stem cell therapy which cost about $2 million in out-of-pocket medical fees.

“Within hours after the first jab I felt like my whole body was on fire, as if acid had been passed through it,” Gena said, according to the Daily Mail. “The burning was isolated at first, but it just kept spreading.”

The symptoms were supposedly indicative of gadolinium deposition disease. It is believed that gadolinium metal contained in MRI contrast agents is deposited in the tissues of major organs, such as the brain, bones, kidneys, and the skin. However, the FDA released a statement last May, saying there was no evidence that gadolinium causes any harm. An agency of the European Union also released a statement in July that it did not find any evidence that gadolinium harms patients but recommended caution about the use of certain agents, such as linear gadolinium contrast agents.

Acting on behalf of his wife, Gena, Chuck Norris filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, November 1 in San Francisco against 11 manufacturers of linear gadolinium-based contrast agents. The lawsuit is seeking more than $10 million in damages against several companies, including McKesson Corporation and Bracco.

According to Chuck Norris, after Gena fell ill, he was forced to give up his acting career to care for her.

“I’ve given up my film career to concentrate on Gena, my whole life right now is about keeping her alive. I believe this issue is so important.”

@ChuckNorris & Gena are suing Bay Area drug company McKesson. TY @BettyKPIX 4 reporting. #MRI #Gadolinium #Contrasthttps://t.co/ulN8C9zTlU

— Gadolinium Toxic (@GadoliniumToxic) November 3, 2017

“Unfortunately, litigation is the only course of action we can take to hold the drug companies accountable for threatening the lives of so many innocent people who undergo MRIs,” Gena said in a statement. “These companies continue to say there is no link between gadolinium and adverse events, even though the evidence is overwhelming that this heavy metal stays in the body for years, rather than hours.”

Gena Norris is being represented by the law firm Cutter Law, which confirmed that it is filing lawsuits on behalf of several other people who also claim to have suffered serious health issues due to gadolinium metal in contrast agents used for MRIs.

When gadolinium-based contrast agents were first introduced, experts believed that all the gadolinium was passed out of the urine hours after injection. However, new research suggests that it is deposited is vital organs, such as the brain and the kidneys.

Some experts believe that doctors failed to recognize the adverse effects of gadolinium because blood and urine tests for the metal were not available to the medical profession until very recently. Thus doctors were simply not able to link symptoms suffered by patients exposed to gadolinium with the presence of the substance in their systems.

However, Norris’ lawsuit insists that the manufacturers of gadolinium-based contrast agents were aware of the risks but refused to warn users.

Up to about 20 million of about 60 million MRI scans performed worldwide every year involve the use of gadolinium-based contrast agents.

[Featured Image by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]