A Nevada man has filed a blood clot filter injury lawsuit against Cook Medical.

According to plaintiff Scott L., he was implanted with a blood clot filter back in September 2009.

Specifically, Scott was implanted with a Günther Tulip® Vena Cava Filter.

However, after suffering from a blood clot despite being implanted with a blood clot filter, he filed a blood clot filter injury lawsuit against the manufacturer.

What Is A Blood Clot Filter?

Blood clot filters, also known as Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filters, are wire devices implanted in the inferior vena cava.

The inferior vena cava is the largest blood vessel in the human body, and carries blood lacking in oxygen back from the lower half of the body up to the lungs to be oxygenated once again.

Blood clot filters are implanted in the inferior vena cava to catch potentially harmful blood clots before they enter into the lungs. Blood clots that enter the lungs can cause a variety of serious complications, including pulmonary embolism.

Blood Clot Filter Side Effects

Despite the problems that IVC filters can prevent, these devices can also cause life-threatening side effects by themselves.

Plaintiffs who have an IVC filter for longer periods of time may even be at a more substantial risk than those who have the device on a less permanent basis.

Serious inferior vena cava filter side effects can occur if the filter device is defective or incorrectly placed in the vein. A defective or incorrectly placed device can cause serious inferior vena cava filter side effects, including:

• Vein perforation
• Organ perforation
• Device migration/breakage
• Pulmonary embolism

Blood clot filter patients who suffer from these dangerous inferior vena cava filter side effects should seek medical attention to have their filter removed. In some more serious cases, it may be too dangerous for blood clot filter removal, as any movement could cause immediate damage.

According to a 2012 study of such devices, within 71 days of device implantation all of the study’s patients had suffered from varying degrees of inferior vena cava perforation.

On top of this, around 40% of patients’ filters were tilted, having moved after implantation. The study looked at 50 individual patients who had been implanted with the Günther Tulip or Cook Celect filters.

A separate study, this one published in 2013, noted that 69 out of 160 Günther Tulip filters perforated their patients’ vena cavas after, on average, 437 days.

Filing a Blood Clot Filter Injury Lawsuit

For patients who have suffered from serious injuries as a result of blood clot filters, filing a blood clot filter injury lawsuit may be an option.

According to such lawsuits, Cook Medical acted negligently in selling these allegedly defective blood clot filters.

Plaintiffs claim that Cook Medical either knew or should have known about the risk related to their IVC filter devices, yet failed to adequately warn patients and the medical community about these risks.

The blood clot filter injury lawsuit filed by Scott L. is far from the only one of its kind.

Indeed, Cook Medical was facing over 800 such IVC lawsuits by the middle of August 2016. The lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation, or MDL.

If you or someone you love has suffered from side effects after being implanted with a blood clot filter from Cook Medical or another company, you may be able to file a blood clot filter injury lawsuit.

The Blood Clot Filter Injury Lawsuit is Case No. 1:16-cv-02379 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division.