The lawsuit was filed by Stephen V., a man from Spokane, Washington who was injured by the VenaTech® Inferior Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) manufactured by B. Braun Medical Inc.
B. Braun VenaTech® Inferior Vena Cava Filter
The IVC filter was surgically implanted for the purpose of preventing thrombotic events on July 10, 2014 at Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma, WA. Instead, it failed to prevent life-threatening blood clots in his lungs.
VenaTech is advertised as a “permanent” IVC filter that catches blood clots before they hit the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. Instead, blood clots were discovered in the plaintiff’s lung artery less than 1 year after the VenaTech filter was implanted.
On June 12, 2015, the plaintiff underwent a CT scan of his chest, which revealed a stationary blood clot known as a “mural thrombus” located along the side wall of the pulmonary artery in his lungs.
He had another CT scan one year later, on June 5, 2016, which again showed blood clots in his pulmonary artery — or a “mural thrombus in the right posterior wall of the interlobar pulmonary artery,” according to the complaint.
As a result of the blood clots and the failure of the VenaTech IVC Filter, the plaintiff is now at risk for life-threatening health problems:
Plaintiff is at risk for future pulmonary embolisms, migrations, and perforations from the retained VenaTech filter, and faces numerous health risks, including the risk of death.”
He will also require ongoing medical care and monitoring for the rest of his life.
Lawyers accuse B. Braun of advertising the VenaTech IVC Filter as a safe and effective way to prevent pulmonary embolisms, even though clinical trials were not adequate to support long or short-term efficacy. They blame the failure of the VenaTech IVC filter on defective design.
The lawsuit was filed on June 12, 2017 in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas — Case ID: 170601155.
There are now around 4,000 other IVC filter lawsuits against B. Braun, Rex Medical, Cook Medical, C.R. Bard, and other manufacturers. Most of these lawsuits have been centralized in Arizona and Illinois.
The plaintiff is represented by attorney Ben C. Martin of The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas; and attorney Stephen A. Sheller of Sheller, P.C., in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Editor’s note: For more information about IVC Filter lawsuits and your legal rights, please contact The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin.