Hillary Clinton taking 'risky rat poison' medication for her blood clotting woe, says top N.Y. doctor

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton (left) applauds his wife, Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (right), as they appear with their daughter Chelsea (centre) at Mrs. Clinton's caucus night rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Feb. 1, 2016.Reuters

A prominent New York doctor has revealed that Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton could be at risk for excessive haemorrhaging, even cerebral haemorrhaging, even from minor falls or other accidents because of the medicine she's taking for her blood-clotting problems.

n, Dr. Ronald Hoffman disclosed that Clinton is currently taking a blood-thinning medication called Coumadin, which was initially introduced and marketed in 1948 as a pesticide designed to kill rats and mice, WND reported.

Hoffman said Clinton has been taking Coumadin since she developed a blood clot in her head from a fall and a concussion she suffered in December 2012.

However, Hoffman warned that Coumadin is a risky medication since it can cause excessive bleeding that can turn even a minor injury into a life-threatening event.

"Coumadin is the brand name for a drug called Warfarin that initially was developed as a rat poison because it made rats bleed to death," Hoffman told WND in a telephone interview.

Hoffman pointed out that Warfarin caused rats to haemorrhage to death, "so the pharmaceutical companies figured if you took only a little bit of rat poison, you won't haemorrhage to death, you just get a little blood-thinning."

But he said that is where the danger lies. "In other words, too little Coumadin and it's not enough – too much Coumadin and you can bleed to death," he said.

Hoffman said Coumadin is "an unwieldy medication, and any patient prescribed Coumadin has to be modified frequently with a blood test to make sure you're not on too much Coumadin, or too little."

But despite the severe risks of taking Coumadin, Hoffman said it may be the better choice for some patients with this kind of blood problem.

He said it would help if Clinton would adopt certain lifestyle changes to prevent blood clotting.

"One of the lifestyle changes that would be required is to stop flying in airplanes for hours and hours. Airplane trips are notorious for causing blood clots," Hoffman said.

The New York physician said Clinton may have to be on Coumadin or other prescribed blood-thinning medications for the rest of her life—"for better or for worse."

The Alliance for Natural Health has warned in a bulletin, titled "Hillary Clinton Prescribed a Dangerous Blood-Thinner," that Coumadin has a long list of nasty side effects.

They include blurred vision and confusion – symptoms that Clinton has been reported to have experienced. Coumadin can also cause excessive bleeding even from minor injuries, the group says.