A woman filed a recent Cook Celect filter lawsuit in Indiana federal court, joining a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against the manufacturers of the IVC filter.

Plaintiff Dina C. files the Cook Celect filter lawsuit as a resident of the state of Texas. Her lawsuit was filed on Oct. 19, 2018.

According to the Cook Celect filter lawsuit, Dina was implanted with the IVC filter on Oct. 6, 2011, at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital. However, soon after the device’s implantation, she says she suffered from severe adverse side effects and complications.

Her Cook Celect 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, Violations of Applicable Texas Law Prohibiting Consumer Fraud and Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices, and punitive damages. The MDL alleges that Cook Medical knew the risk for complications with their device.

Overview: Cook Celect Filter

An IVC filter functions to catch blood clots, preventing them from travelling upwards to the lungs or heart. The IVC filter is implanted into a patient’s inferior vena cava–a large vein located in the human body that carries deoxygenated blood from the body’s lower extremities back up to the heart and lungs for replenishment.

The lack of filtration of a blood clot could lead to severe adverse side effects, such as a pulmonary embolism, or PE. PE is where a blood vessel in the lungs becomes blocked by a blood clot.

Dina’s Cook Celect filter lawsuit is filed as part of a large multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Cook Medical. An MDL files a collection of lawsuits of similar complaints, and helps facilitate and expedite faster processing of claims. The Cook MDL is centered on allegations that consumers who have been implanted with a filter system suffer severe adverse complications more so than what they were led to believe could occur from warnings and information provided to them.

There are many possible symptoms of a defective or damaged Cook Celect filter. Some symptoms may include: shortness of breath, nausea, heart rhythm problems, lightheadedness, hypotension, stroke, and severe chest pain. Complications have occurred from the filter tilting out of position or migrating out of its initial place of implantation; device fracture, or parts and fragments of the IVC filter traveling within a patient’s bloodstream; and the puncturing of organs such as the lungs, heart, the vena cava or other tissue.

Any patient who begins to suffer from these conditions may have to undergo surgery to remove the device from their body. For some patients, the device may not be removable. Additionally, any IVC filter device that comes apart or fractures may release fragments of the IVC filter within the patient’s bloodstream, thus leading to even more injuries.

The Cook Celect Filter Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-03250-RLY-TAB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, and is part of the Cook IVC Filter MDL, In re: Cook Medical, Inc, IVC Filters Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2570, filed in the same court.