The lawsuit was filed by Keith E., a man from South Bend, Indiana who was implanted with the Celect® Inferior Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) manufactured by Cook Medical and William Cook Europe ApS.
The Celect® is a retrievable IVC Filter that was implanted in his body on March 29, 2009 to prevent a pulmonary embolism (blood clots).
On March 11, 2016, the plaintiff was told by his doctor that the Cook IVC Filter was embedded into the wall of his inferior vena cava and multiple struts had penetrated through the wall of the vein.
The doctors attempted to remove the IVC Filter, but halted their attempts due to a high degree of life-threatening risks associated with any further attempts to free the perforated and embedded IVC Filter.
He was left with permanent health problems, according to the lawsuit:
Plaintiff is at risk for future Cook Filter fractures, migrations, perforations and tilting. Plaintiff faces numerous health risks, including the risk of death. For the rest of Plaintiff’s life, he will require on-going medical monitoring and the use of anti-coagulants.”
Cook Medical is accused of manufacturing and selling a defective medical device and failing to warn the plaintiff about dangerous risks.
The lawsuit was filed on January 25, 2018 in the Marion County Superior Court in the State of Indiana — Case No. 49D05-1801-CT-003219.
Cook Medical is now facing over 3,600 other IVC filter lawsuits in state and federal court. The federal lawsuits are centralized into Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2570).
The plaintiff is represented by attorney Ben C. Martin of The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas.
Ben C. Martin is a trial attorney based in Dallas, Texas who serves as the plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the Cook IVC Filter MDL.
Editor’s note: For more information about IVC Filter lawsuits and your legal rights, please contact The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin.