Option™ ELITE Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter
The lawsuit was filed by Marcia S., the widow of Larry S., a deceased man who was injured by the Option™ ELITE Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) manufactured by Argon Medical Devices Inc. and Rex Medical, L.P.
The IVC Filter was surgically implanted on August 31, 2015 in Lawrenceville, Georgia at Gwinnett Hospital System by Dr. Jaymin R. Patel for the purpose of protection against pulmonary embolisms.
On September 16, 2015, Larry S. died of complications related to the defective IVC Filter. He suffered cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from a bilateral pulmonary embolism (blood clots in both of his lungs).
The lawsuit states that his “bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli completely occluded the main, right, and left pulmonary arteries — the exact conditions that Option ELITE IVC Filter was supposed to prevent.” Furthermore, according to the lawsuit:
An autopsy of Decedent revealed the Option ELITE filter had failed to filter or catch blood clots/thrombi traveling to Decedent’s heart and lungs, ultimately resulting in Decedent’s death.”
Lawyers say Rex Medical and Argon Medial knew, or should have known, that the device was defective and unreasonably dangerous. The defendants are also accused of failing to conduct sufficient clinical testing, such as animal studies, to determine how the device would function once implanted in the human body — or if it was effective in preventing pulmonary embolisms.
The Option ELITE is allegedly defective because it has a high rate of embedment, fracture, migration, excessive tilting, perforation of the vena cava wall, and thrombosis once implanted in the human body. These failures expose patients to serious injuries, including death, hemorrhage, cardiac tamponade, cardiac arrhythmia, symptoms similar to a heart attack, severe pain, organ damage, and an inability to remove the device.
The lawsuit was filed on August 14, 2017 in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas — Case ID: 170800933.
There are now over 4,000 other IVC filter lawsuits pending against Rex Medical, Cook Medical, and C.R. Bard. Most of these lawsuits have been centralized in state and federal courts 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.