The lawsuit was filed by Robert H., a man from Pennsylvania who was implanted with the Cook Günther Tulip® Vena Cava Filter on January 15, 2015 at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Erie.
The Günther Tulip is a blood clot-catching filter that has four petal-shaped legs, each made of three wires, around a central hook. It was approved as a permanent implant in 2000, and for retrieval in 2003.
Günther Tulip Vena Cava Filter
The Tulip and other inferior vena cava (IVC) filters are supposed to prevent blood clots traveling to the lungs and causing pulmonary embolisms, but the filters themselves pose serious risks.
One of the most common problems is the needle-like wire legs of an IVC filter digging into the wall of the vena cava or puncturing through.
Perforations do not usually cause symptoms or require treatment, but they do increase the risk of major complications. The filter can tilt, migrate, fail to catch blood clots, puncture nearby organs, or become so embedded that it can’t be removed.
In 2013, the Journal of Vascular Interventional Radiology published a study of 120 patients with the Günther Tulip and found that 43% (69 patients) developed a perforation.
In 2012, another study observed an 86% perforation-rate for patients with the Günther Tulip or its “new-and-improved” successor, the Cook Celect® Vena Cava Filter.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by people who were injured by IVC filters. Cook Medical is accused of failing to warn about serious risks, selling unreasonably dangerous and defective medical devices, and inadequately studying the implants for long-term safety.
The lawsuit was filed on December 8, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division) — Case No. 1:16-cv-03312.
It will be centralized with over 1,225 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.
Ben C. Martin is a trial attorney based in Dallas, Texas who serves as the plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the Cook IVC Filter MDL.
Editor’s note: For more information about IVC Filter lawsuits and your legal rights, please contact The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin.
During Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter placement, a filtering device is placed within the IVC, a large vein in the abdomen that returns blood from the lower body to the heart.IVC filters help reduce the risk of pulmonary embolism by trapping large clots and preventing
them from reaching the heart and lungs.