A woman joins hundreds of others in growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) by filing a Gunther Tulip lawsuit against the manufacturers of the Gunther Tulip Vena Cava Filter, Cook Medical, Inc.

Plaintiff Irene S. files the Gunther Tulip lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Indiana. The lawsuit was filed on July 31, 2018.

According to the Gunther Tulip lawsuit, Irene is a resident of the state of Ohio. She says that she was implanted with the Gunther Tulip Vena Cava Filter on July 31, 2008 at Springfield Regional Medical Center, in Springfield, Ohio.

However, soon after the product’s implantation, Irene alleges that she suffered severe adverse effects and complications.

The Gunther Tulip 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 Ohio law prohibiting consumer fraud and unfair and deceptive trade practices, and punitive damages.

Gunther Tulip Lawsuit Joins MDL

Irene’s claim was filed as part of a large MDL centered on allegations that the IVC filter device manufactured by Cook Medical causes severe adverse side effects and complications that the company failed to warn doctors and patients about. The MDL is a consolidation of Gunther Tulip lawsuits collected to help expedite and facilitate processing of these lawsuits that contain similar allegations.

There have been several serious and dangerous IVC filer complications linked to the device and its implantation. Conditions reported have included the filter tilting out of position and migrating out of its initial implantation position. Additionally, other filter devices have even come apart or fractured, leaving parts of the IVC filter floating in the patient’s bloodstream. Migration and fracture of the IVC filter can lead to even more deadly and serious complications. Consumers, like Irene state that Cook intentionally or negligently failed to warn of these extensive and serious complications linked to the device.

According to the Gunther Tulip lawsuit, Cook “failed to disclose to physicians, patients and/or plaintiffs that its Cook Filters were subject to breakage, tilt, inability of removal, and migration even though they knew or should have known the same was true,” it states.

The purpose of the IVC filter is to help prevent complications and adverse side effects stemming from the formation of a blood clot, such as a pulmonary embolism (PE). The IVC filter is implanted or inserted 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.

PE is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs becomes blocked by a blood clot. The implantation of the device provides an alternative to patients who can’t take blood thinning medications to help prevent the formation of blood clots. Once implanted, an IVC filter is intended prevent blood clots from traveling into the lungs.

The Gunther Tulip Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-02337-RLY-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.