Over 4000 lawsuits have been filed against the two largest manufacturers of IVC (inferior vena cava) filters. In March, the first bellwether trial for these suits, against C.R. Bard and Cook Medical, will be heard. Patients around the country suffering as a result of defective IVC filters are waiting anxiously to see how the justice system will handle their plight.
Serious Health Risks Posed by Unsafe IVC Filters
“In the past three decades, approximately 30,000 IVC filters have been implanted in patients around the US.”
The lawsuits against C.R. Bard and Cook Medical over IVC filters are aimed at the manufacturers’ alleged concealment of potentially dangerous side effects of the filters. These side effects include filter migration, fracture, organ perforation, embolization, and inferior vena cava punctures. According to the lawsuits, the manufacturers failed to warn doctors and patients about these risks. Other smaller manufacturers, including B. Braun, Argon Medical, Cordis Corporation, and Rex Medical also face legal action in state and federal courts.
IVC Filters Known to Increase Risk of Pulmonary Embolism
IVC filters are small devices that are inserted into heart’s vena cava during surgical procedure. Spider-like, the filters are designed to capture and trap blood clots passing through the artery before they reach the lungs. In the past three decades, approximately 30,000 IVC filters have been implanted in patients around the US.
In 2010, the FDA made it known that these filters carried significant risk of injuries to patients. Four years later, in 2014, the FDA strongly urged patients to have the filters removed to reduce the risk of pulmonary embolism. A year later, the FDA issued yet another warning, this time suggesting that C.R. Bard and Cook Medical had not only supplied doctors with faulty devices, but that they had known about the risks and covered them up.
IVC Filter devices involved in the lawsuits:
Cook Celect Filter
Cook Gunther Tulip Filter
Bard Recovery Filter
Bard G2 Filter
Bard G2 Express Filter
Cordis TrapEase
OptEase
IVC Filter Lawsuit Attorneys
If you or someone you know has suffered as a result of an IVC filter named above, please contact our attorneys immediately to protect your legal rights by calling us at 215 462 3330 or by using our online contact form.
