A jury has awarded a Texas patient $1.2 million in an IVC filter verdict, after the man claimed the filter came dislodged and perforated his tissue.

On May 24, the jury’s IVC filter verdict wrapped up the lawsuit against Cook Inc. brought by plaintiff Jeff P. Jeff, who was implanted with a Cook Celect inferior vena cava filter, claimed the IVC filter tilted in place and pierced his aorta and internal organs.

Though the IVC filter lawsuit claimed that the design of the device was defective, the jury determined that was not the case. However, they did find Cook Inc. liable for negligence by failing to warn the patient and his physician of the risks of the device that allegedly caused the patient’s injury.

In the IVC filter verdict, Jeff was awarded a total of $1,240,500 — $50,000 for past emotional anguish and physical pain, $100,000 for past disfigurement, $93,000 for past physical impairment, $160,000 for future lost earnings, $100,000 for future disfigurement, $137,500 for future physical impairment, and $500,000 for future medical expenses.

The inferior vena cava is one of two large veins that carry deoxygenated blood into the heart. An inferior vena cava filter is a medical device used to prevent blood clots from moving through the body and blocking blood from reaching extremities, thereby causing strokes, aneurisms, or loss of circulation.

Some inferior vena cava filters are removable, while some are designed to be permanent. The Cook IVC filters are reportedly removable IVC filters. Leaving removable filters in place after the risk of blood clot injury has subsided has led to reports of injuries and controversy over the usefulness of these devices.

Jeff states that though the device is designed to be removed, it should not be able to move on its own from where it is implanted. Allegedly, Jeff’s IVC filter tilted from the place where it was implanted and punctured his aorta, the main artery of the body, and his duodenum, the first part of the small intestine.

According to the Cook IVC filter lawsuit, Jeff had to undergo two additional surgeries in an attempt to remove the filter that had allegedly injured him — once in April 2015 and once in June 2015. Allegedly, the two surgeries were unsuccessful in removing the filter, which had dug into Jeff’s body.

Jeff argues that Cook knew or should have known that the IVC filters had the potential to move or shift from their position, and that their tendency to do this could cause a patient serious injury. The Cook IVC injury lawsuit claims that given the knowledge of the product’s potential dangers that the company should have had, they should have warned physicians of the potential danger, but failed to do so.

According to the IVC filter problems lawsuit, the company knew that these potential failures “exposed patients to serious injuries [like] severe and persistent pain; perforations of tissue, vessels and organs; and inability to remove the device.”

This IVC filter verdict comes amidst a number of similar claims alleging that IVC filters can cause serious injury. Most recently, Bard, another medical device manufacturer, faces litigation in Phoenix over their filters.

The IVC Filter Lawsuit is Case No. 2017-03885, in the 80th District Court of Harris County, Texas.