The lawsuit was filed by Billy H. Jr., a man who was implanted with the Cook Celect® Vena Cava Filter on September 11, 2012 at Palmdale Regional Medical Center in California. He was injured after he moved to Alabama, where he currently lives.
He accuses Cook Medical of negligence for selling a defective medical device and failing to warn about safety risks.
Celect is designed with needle-like wire legs arranged in a cone-shape. It is implanted in the inferior vena cava (IVC), one of the largest blood vessels in the body, where it catches blood clots.
Temporary filters like the Celect should be removed within 29-54 days, according to the FDA. However, studies have found that only around 20% are ever removed.
The longer it remains in the body, the higher the risk of complications like filter fracture, tilt, migration, perforation of the vena cava, blood clots in the legs, organ damage, heart problems, and even death.
In one study of 99 patients with the Celect, 43% perforated the vena cava within two months. In another study, all 27 patients who received the Celect had some degree of perforation within 71 days.
The lawsuit was filed on October 18, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division) — Case No. 1:16-cv-02829.
It will be centralized with over 980 other IVC filter lawsuits now pending in Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2570)— In Re: Cook Medical, Inc., IVC Filters Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation.
The plaintiff is represented by Ben C. Martin and Thomas Wm. Arbon of The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas.