The lawsuit was filed by Pattie H., a woman from Cook County in Illinois who was injured by the OptEase® Retrievable Inferior Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) manufactured by Cordis Corporation and Johnson & Johnson.
Cordis OptEase® Retrievable IVC Filter
The IVC Filter was surgically implanted in her vein on June 22, 2010. The filter subsequently malfunctioned and caused severe injuries.
When she had a CT scan in December 2015, doctors discovered that several tines of the IVC filter had perforated through the wall of her inferior vena cava. In February 2016, another CT scan discovered that the OptEase IVC filter had migrated and fractured.
Doctors also determined that a broken fragment of her IVC filter had migrated into her heart. The broken fragment moved into the right atrium of her heart, causing severe tachycardia (slow heart rhythm).
As a direct result of these malfunctions, she suffered life-threatening injuries and required emergency open-heart surgery. Her right atrium is now permanently damaged because the filter fragment became embedded in her heart.
Lawyers claim that Cordis IVC filters “fail at alarming rates, but they also fail at rates substantially higher than other available IVC filters.” According to the lawsuit:
For instance, a recent large medical study found that OptEase and TrapEase filters suffer fracture rates of 37.5% and 23.1% respectively, when left implanted a minimum of 46 months.”
Another recent study found that the TrapEase filter had a 64% fracture rate when left in more than four years
Cordis Corporation and Johnson & Johnson are accused of selling defective medical devices and failing to warn about dangerous risks.
The lawsuit was filed on August 16, 2017 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois — Case No. 2017-L-008306.
There are now 4,000 other IVC filter lawsuits pending against B. Braun, Rex Medical, Cook Medical, C.R. Bard, and other manufacturers in state and federal courtrooms nationwide.
The plaintiff is represented by attorney Ben C. Martin of The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas; and attorney Craig D. Brown of Meyers & Flowers LLC in St. Charles, Illinois.
Editor’s note: For more information about IVC Filter lawsuits and your legal rights, please contact The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin.