@m245837 I can understand your husband's reluctance to stay on a somewhat risky anti-coagulant, no matter how hifalutin it might be. 😀

I don't think the risk is so onerous that the manufacturer either can't underwrite the risk itself, or that its insurers won't. It's not like Vioxx where a few people developed heart conditions, so the drug was withdrawn...while people I knew well said it was a miracle drug that helped with their arthritic hands and gave them mobility back. The DOACs seem to be worth the risk of a major bleed, which fortunately happens to a very few people. I have fallen off my speed bike, struck myself or bumped things, cut myself, and bled. None of it was so bad that I had to be taken to a hospital. A compress left in place for 36 hours has always been enough to stem any further bleeding. Sub-cutaneous bleeds have been few. I get eye floaters (darn, because I use telescopes and cameras), and if they are the result of bleeds or cataract surgery, to name two common cause. Seven years into taking Eliquis now, and with both an adhered vitreous sac requiring a vitrectomy and a cataract, I don't have more than the normal age-related number of floaters in either eye.

The other thing is that new devices must be approved for public use after trials, and surely those same insurers would balk at underwriting a device with a spotty history. If the Watchman has a new model, and it is being offered, then it has passed the reviews for safety.