A spinal cord injury is one of the most devastating types of medical conditions that someone can develop after an accident and now research is questioning whether or not IVC filters are truly beneficial in traumatic spinal cord injuries.
The use of blood clot filters after spinal cord injury has increased in recent years but those patients who receive an inferior vena cava prophylactic filter face much higher risks of thromboembolism than those patients who receive other types of treatment, including chemoprophylaxis.
Doctors make decisions about which kind of treatment to administer based on information provided by the manufacturer of each device or drug. When side effect or symptom problems have not been shared with doctors, patients may ultimately pay the price for a defective or unreasonably dangerous medication or device.
Sometimes it can take dozens or hundreds of adverse event reports filed with the FDA before a company issues a voluntary recall or before a proper investigation is initiated into the problem. In the interim, patients may have suffered life-threatening and preventable injuries.
Blood Clot Filters After Spinal Cord Injury May be Dangerous
Surgeons from Jacobi Medical Center and Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine looked at data recently to explore the effectiveness of an IVC filter. As it relates to the use of blood clot filters after spinal cord injury, they identified these significant thromboembolism risks to be extremely dangerous for patients and argue that surgeons should now consider whether or not these IVC filters are appropriate for use. They looked at more than 69,000 patients whose data was included in the American College of Surgeons’ national trauma databank over the course of four years.
They studied those patients who received blood clot filters after spinal cord injury to see at how those patients dealt with filter insertion. Those patients who had received the blood clot filter were more likely to go through a pulmonary embolism than those who received an alternative treatment, chemoprophylaxis, alone.
If you or someone you know has been injured as a result of an IVC filter, including blood clot filters after spinal cord injury problems, you may be entitled to recover compensation with the help of an attorney.
Although the makers of the IVC filter marketed this device as safe and beneficial for patients, research shows that patients with severe injuries such as spinal cord problems may not benefit.
Patients should not have to worry about the dangers of blood clot filters after spinal cord injury but the recent concerns raised by surgeons highlight just how dangerous it can be to use these filters with particular patients.
The dedicated lawyers at McDonald Worley have extensive experience in evaluating these types of cases, preparing a strategy for a lawsuit, and protecting your interests over the duration of the case. Fill out the form on this page to receive a free case evaluation.