IVC Filters are placed in the inferior vena cava, a large vein in the middle of your body, to prevent blood clots in the lower extremities from reaching your heart or lungs, the latter known as a pulmonary embolism. However, IVC filters are known to have a number of life-threatening complications, including fracture of the medical device’s arms, with fragments then migrating to other parts of the body.
Studies also suggest that the filters themselves may cause clots, and large clots can cause the filters to shift from their intended position. The manufacturers of these devices had information about the dangerous risks associated with their IVC filters but failed to report those risks to doctors or include information about them in Instructions for use.
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed across the country over severe injuries and deaths caused by IVF filters, among them one that resulted in a $33.7 million verdict handed down by a jury in Philadelphia. That verdict included $30.3 million in punitive damages.
If you have reason to believe that you or a loved one suffered severe injury or death following implantation of an IVC filter, you may have grounds for a lawsuit. Kline & Specter, PC, has won billions in verdicts and settlements in product liability cases, many involving medical device cases. Our firm has ore than 50 lawyers, five of whom are also medical doctors -- the most of any law firm in America – to quickly and accurately assess an IVC filter case. We offer free case evaluations for potential IVC lawsuits.
While some of the defective IVC filters have been removed from the market and are no longer being implanted, others are still being used. Patients may not suffer injury from the filters until years after the filters are implanted. Manufacturers of IVC filters include are Argon, Bard, Braun, Cook, Cordis, Rex Medical, and Volcano.
In the Philadelphia verdict, a jury found that an IVC filter made by Rex Medical LP had been defectively designed and that the clot-catching device had perforated not only the patient’s inferior vena cava but also punctured her pancreas, aorta and renal vein. The Georgia woman’s case was the first to go to trial as part of a mass tort program consolidating some 800 cases against Rex Medical.
In another case, a woman was awarded $3.6 million by a federal jury in Arizona on her claim she was injured by a Bard IVC device implanted to prevent blood clots. That verdict included $2 million in punitive damages.
A Texas woman is currently claiming in federal court that a Bard IVC filter implanted in her after she sustained injuries in a car accident was defective and that parts of the device broke off, migrating and lodging in her heart and lung. A U.S. magistrate ruled in March 2021 that the woman is entitled to seek punitive damages in the case.