Currently, there are several IVC filter class action lawsuits pending against Cook Medical. The Cook Gunther Tulip IVC Filter System is a medical device approved by the FDA in 2003. It was followed by the Cook Celect IVC Filter System, which was approved by the FDA in 2008. It has been on the market in Europe since 1992 and the United States since 2003. IVC filter complications are very serious and can be life threatening. The Gunther Tulip IVC Filter is designed with twelve filter wires, including four legs that are each 44-mm in length. In this year the company have faces 818 federal lawsuits in the mid of August.
A man from Texas who was injured by Gunther Tulip Vena Cava Filter filed a personal injury and defective product liability lawsuit against Cook Medical. The litigation involves over 800 similar cases. In August 2015, Steve A. James was implanted with a Gunther Tulip Vena Cava Filter at Kingwood Medical Center. The lawsuit was filed on August 24, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division) under the Case No. 1:16-CV-02253. The lawsuit filed against Cook Medical alleges that medical devices have design defects and were not properly tested before going to market. The plaintiff accuses Cook Medical of negligence for selling a defective medical device, failing to warn about side effects, and concealing safety risks.
What is IVC Filter?
The Gunther-Tulip inferior vena cava filter (Cook Medical Inc, Bloomington, Ind) was one of the first inferior vena cava (IVC) filters to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for retrieval. The IVC filter is a small, metal device are used in those patients who may develop a PE and cannot be treated by using anticoagulant medication. The devices are placed in the inferior vena cava, the largest vein in the body, to prevent blood clots that form in the legs and pelvic area from breaking loose and moving to the lungs. Cook Medical obtained approval for the IVC filters under the controversial FDA 510(k) fast track approval process, which allowed them to perform only minimal testing before selling the devices for use in patients nationwide.
- Device Fracturing
- Defective Filter Deployment
- Migration of the device
- Perforation of the IVC
- Device Tilted
- Difficulty removing the device
The lawsuit of Steve A. James is represented by Ben C. Martin and Thomas Wm. Arbon of the Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas. The case was centralized in a Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2570) where at least 800 similar litigations are pending against Cook Medical. The lawsuits claims that Cook Medical failed to warn the general public about the potential health risks associated with the device and accuses IVC Filters Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability.
As of August 2016 more than 1,300 Cook, Bard and Cordis IVC filter lawsuits have been filed. As per a study done on April 2012 involving 50 people, the Gunther Tulip or Celect found that all of the filters had some degree of perforation within 71 days, 40% were tilted, and 86% perforated through the vena cava. The manufacturer have designed and sold defective devices which have several adverse effects such as moving out of position, puncturing the vein or fracturing, potentially sending small metallic pieces to the heart or lungs.
IVC filter lawsuits consolidated
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has administrated that all federal litigations involving Cook vena cava filters will be consolidated in the Southern District of Indiana for pretrial proceedings. The MDL was able to be created because all the lawsuits involve in it were filed against the same defendant and contained similar allegations. The lawyers and attorneys at Drugsclaim.com are currently investigating the problems and complications related to Inferior vena cava filters. If you or someone you know has had an IVC Filter implantation and has had any side effect or have died, contact our law firm immediately where group of lawyers file IVC filter lawsuit against manufacturers and provide support to patients to get compensate for all the losses they had suffered due to this dangerous device.