Cook Medical Inc., the manufacturers of the Cook IVC filter, face a recent Cook Celect vena cava filter lawsuit in Indiana federal court filed by a woman alleging she suffered severe adverse effects and complications following implantation.

Plaintiff Cindy T. of Pennsylvania has filed the Cook Celect vena cava filter lawsuit which joins a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL). The lawsuit was filed May 31, 2018.

According to the Cook Celect vena cava filter lawsuit, Cindy was implanted with the vena cava filter in May 2011 at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center.

The Cook Celect vena cava filter lawsuit was filed on multiple counts including failure to warn, design defect, negligence, negligence per se, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty and Violations of Applicable Pennsylvania Law Prohibiting Consumer Fraud and Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices.

Overview: Cook Celect Vena Cava Filter

Cindy’s claim is filed as part of a large multidistrict litigation (MDL) centered on allegations that patients implanted with the device suffered severe adverse effects and complications more so than what they expected to undergo following warnings and information provided to them by Cook Medical Inc.

The lawsuits are a collection of suits being conducted together in a single court to help expedite and facilitate faster processing of these lawsuits.

The Cook Celect IVC filter became approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2008. Its purpose is to help prevent blood clots that may emerge from the body’s lower extremity to travel upwards into a patient’s heart and lungs. A pulmonary embolism is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs becomes blocked by a blood clot.

The IVC filter is implanted or inserted into a patient’s inferior vena cava, a large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the body’s lower extremity back up to the heart and lungs for replenishment. This device catches potential blood clots.

However, severe adverse effects and complications have been linked to the IVC filter. These have included the risks of causing perforation to the heart, lungs, and inferior vena cava. Patients who begin to suffer from these conditions may also have to undergo removal of the device through a surgical procedure.

Other complications have also stemmed from the IVC filer. Some of these include the device tilting out of position or migrating out of its initial place of implantation. Some IVC filters have even come apart or fractured, leaving parts and fragments of the IVC filter with a patient’s bloodstream causing even more adverse events and complications.

Signs of a damaged and defective IVC filter may include shortness of breath, nausea, heart rhythm problems, lightheadedness, hypotension, stroke or severe chest pain.

The Cook Celect Vena Cava Filter Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-01651-TWP-TAB, in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division. The Cook IVC Filter MDL is in re: Cook Medical, Inc, IVC Filters Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2570, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.