An IVC filter award handed down by a jury includes $1.2 million to those who suffered perforated veins as a result of the allegedly defective filter.
A Texas jury handed down the $1.2 million IVC filter award after a Houston firefighter alleged that his Cook Incorporated vein filter perforated his body tissue. He claims that Cook failed to properly warn the surgeon or the patient about the risks of perforation.
The plaintiff in the IVC filter award lawsuit was implanted with an inferior vena cava filter generated by Cook in the spring of 2015. The primary purpose of that device was to stop blood clots from traveling to his heart.
But the plaintiff alleged that the filter tilted and damaged his aorta, requiring further surgery as a result.
This is not the first and likely not the last time that a patient who received an IVC filter will use a lawsuit as a method to hold the device manufacturer accountable..
All around the country, patients who received an IVC filter with the expectation that it would help them began to experience unexpected side effects weeks, months, or years after getting the implant.
The jury identified after a three-week trial in handing down the IVC filter award that the design of the filter itself was not negligent, but did find that the manufacturer negligently failed to warn the physician about the risks, which was categorized as approximate cause of the firefighter’s injuries.
In late April and June of 2015, the plaintiff in that lawsuit attempted to go through revision surgery, however, neither of those two surgeries were capable of explanting the filter which was dug into the nearby tissue.
The IVC filter award lawsuit paperwork included claims that Cook knew or should have known that their Celect version of the filter had a high rate of migration, fracture, perforation of the vena cava wall and excessive tilting.
The plaintiff was still eligible to work as a firefighter after suffering the injuries.
Early bellwether trials against Bard, another company facing claims of severe IVC filter damages, led to a $3.6 million verdict on behalf of the plaintiff.
Many patients who have suffered serious physical impairments and have sustained high medical expenses as a result of allegedly defected devices have chosen to file lawsuits with the assistance of experienced attorneys.
This may be their only opportunity to recover compensation and to begin to put the pieces of their lives back together to move on after such a devastating incident.
Many different plaintiffs have come forward in recent years claiming that the various manufacturers of IVC filters knew or should have known about the risks, and in failing to disclose this to physicians as well as patients who were receiving the filter, exposed those patients to unnecessary injuries and damages.
The IVC Filter Award Lawsuit is Case No. 2017-03885, in the 80th District Court of Harris County, Texas.
The lawyers at McDonald Worley are available to help you with your legal claim involving an IVC filter.
Disclaimer: McDonald Worley is not representing the plaintiff in this lawsuit.