The lawsuit was filed by Anthony G., a man from California who was implanted with the Option™ Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) on September 11, 2011 at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada.
Option™ Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter
The filter was implanted in his body because he had a history of pulmonary embolism, a condition in which blood clots travel in the bloodstream until they get stuck in the lungs and block arteries.
On March 31, 2016, he went to the emergency department at NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, California because he was experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain.
He underwent a CT scan of his chest. It showed blood clots in both of his lungs, otherwise known as a “bilateral acute pulmonary embolism.”
The CT scan also showed that his IVC filter was “tilted, eroded into the lumen, and migrated,” according to the lawsuit.
The discharge summary states that the displaced IVC filter could be the source of the pulmonary embolism itself.”
His lawsuit accuses Rex Medical of selling a defective device that did not prevent pulmonary embolisms as it was advertised, but instead may have caused pulmonary embolisms and other health problems.
Tilting is one of the most common complications of IVC filters and it can lead to a deadly pulmonary embolism in two ways. The most likely scenario is that the tilted filter does not effectively stop a blood clot.
The other risk is that a blood clot forms on the filter itself and breaks off. Blood clots frequently form on exposed metal implants, which is why patients with heart valves and stents must take blood-thinning medications. Very few patients with IVC filters take blood-thinners.
The lawsuit was filed on March 27, 2017 in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas — Case ID: 170302889 .
There are 3,000 other IVC filter lawsuits now pending in state and federal courts nationwide against Rex Medical L.P., Argon Medical Devices, Cook Medical Inc., C.R. Bard, B. Braun Medical, and more.
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.