The lawsuit was filed by Kathy H., a woman from West Virginia who was implanted with the Greenfield® Stainless Steel Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) manufactured by Boston Scientific Corporation.
Boston Scientific Greenfield IVC Filter
The IVC Filter was surgically implanted on June 14, 2004. The lawsuit alleges that neither the plaintiff nor her healthcare providers were warned that the IVC Filter was negligently designed, manufactured, and dangerous — even when use exactly as it was intended.
Boston Scientific Corp. is accused of promoting, marketing, and selling an “unreasonably dangerous medical device that was unfit for the purpose for which is was designed and sold,” the lawsuit alleges.
Kathy H. is seeking compensation for serious, life-threatening injuries she suffered as a result of the Boston Scientific Greenfield® IVC Filter.
The IVC Filter was implanted by Dr. Robert Rudolph at Camden Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg, West Virginia for the purpose of preventing a pulmonary embolism (blood clots in her lungs).
On April 22, 2016, she underwent a CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis. It showed that the Greenfield IVC Filter was tilted with the top of the filter against the left lateral wall of the inferior vena cava and one of the struts had fractured into 2 sections and migrated.
Two-thirds of the tilted IVC Filter was embedded in the right ventricle of her heart. The remaining one-third of the tilted IVC Filter was embedded through the vertebral disc of her spine.
Furthermore, doctors noted that the remaining 5 struts of the IVC Filter had all perforated through the wall of her vena cava, with 2 of the perforated struts extending into her intestine (descending duodenum).
On May 3, 2016, she underwent surgery to remove the Greenfield IVC Filter, according to the lawsuit:
“Her treating physician noted the filter was tilted, the apex of the filter was embedded into the inferior vena cava, two struts of the filter had perforated through the vena cava and into her duodenum, and that there was ‘full-term migration and disintegration’ of several struts, resulting in one of the struts becoming lodged in Plaintiff’s right ventricle and another strut becoming lodged posteriorly.”
She is at risk for future migrations, perforations from the remaining IVC Filter fragment, and she faces numerous health risks, including death. She will require ongoing medical care for the rest of her life.
Boston Scientific is accused of failing to provide sufficient warnings about the dangers caused by implantation of the Greenfield IVC Filter, including the design failure to withstand the normal anatomical and physical loading cycles in the body.
The lawsuit was filed on December 29, 2017 in the Trial Court of Massachusetts (Middlesex Superior Court).
The plaintiff is represented by Ben C. Martin of The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas; Edwin L. Wallace of The Shepard Law Firm, P.C. in Boston, Massachusetts; and Nathan VanDerVeer of Farris, Riley & Pitt LLP in Birmingham, Alabama.
Editor’s note: For more information about IVC Filter lawsuits and your legal rights, please contact The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin.