A Gunther Tulip IVC filter lawsuit has been filed against Cook Medical by a woman who says the device injured her.

Plaintiff Brenda A. says she was implanted with the inferior vena cava (IVC) filter on Aug. 12, 2013. IVC filters are designed to prevent pulmonary embolisms in patients who might not tolerate anticoagulant medications. These small, cage-like devices are intended to capture blood clots that would otherwise travel from the lower extremities to the heart and lungs. The inferior vena cava is the vein that returns blood to the heart from the lower part of the body.

The Gunther Tulip IVC filter is a retrievable filter, which means it is intended to be removed once the threat of a pulmonary embolism has passed. The filter has a top hook and four anchoring struts.

Of 130 filter retrievals attempted from July 2006 through February 2008, a staggering 97 standard retrieval techniques failed, according to a review referenced in the master complaint for the Cook IVC filter multidistrict litigation.

The March 30, 2011 issue of Cardiovascular Interventional Radiology electronically published a study of Gunther Tulip and Celect IVC filters implanted from July 2007 through 2009. The report indicted one hundred percent of the IVC filters imaged after 71 days of implant perforated the vena cava wall to some degree.

The master complaint says Cook “knew or should have known that their IVC filters were more likely than not to perforate the vena cava wall.”

Guther Tulip IVC Filter Lawsuit Alleges Poor Construction

Cook filters are made of Conichrome, a cobalt-chromium-nickel-molybdenum-iron alloy that was originally developed to make springs for watches and was patented in 1950. Cook specifically markets the Conichrome frame as one that “reduces the risk of fracture.”

According to allegations in the Cook multidistrict litigation, “[t]he failure of the Cook filters is attributable, in part, to the fact that the Cook filters suffer from a design defect causing it to be unable to withstand the normal anatomical and physiological loading cycles exerted in vivo.”

The Gunther Tulip IVC filter lawsuit alleges “Cook IVC filters were defective and unreasonably dangerous” when they entered the market because warnings did not sufficiently alert consumers to the dangers and risks of the filters tilting, fracturing, migrating or perforating the vena cava, all of which caused serious injury and sometimes death.

“Information provided by Cook to the medical community and to consumers concerning the safety and efficacy of its IVC filters did not accurately reflect the serious and potentially fatal adverse events Plaintiffs could suffer,” says the Gunther Tulip IVC master complaint.

The master complaint further alleges that the Cook filters were “insufficiently tested and caused harmful adverse events that outweighed any potential utility.”

If you have received an implant of a Gunther Tulip IVC filter and suffered from the device’s alleged defects, you could benefit by seeking legal counsel.

The Gunther Tulip IVC Filter Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-03341-RLY-TAB and is part of the Cook Medical IVC Filter MDL, 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, Indianapolis Division.