A Kentucky man recently filed a lawsuit against Cook Medical, alleging that the medical device manufacturer’s Celect filter led to serious IVC filter complications.

The plaintiff, Mark C., was implanted with a Cook Celect vena cava filter on Jan. 11, 2015 at a hospital in Kentucky, his home state.

However, sometime after that initial implantation, Mark began suffering from serious IVC filter complications. He filed this lawsuit in response, alleging that his injuries were a direct result of the defective design of the Celect IVC filter device.

The IVC filter complications lawsuit was filed on July 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Mark filed his IVC filter complications lawsuit on multiple counts, including failure to warn, design defect, negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, and several others. This lawsuit is part of a larger MDL, or multidistrict litigation, made up of a number of Cook lawsuits together that have been filed over IVC filter complications.

IVC Filter Complications

An IVC filter, also known as an inferior vena cava filter, is a medical device used to prevent blood clots from entering essential but vulnerable organs—namely, the lungs and heart. This is meant to prevent serious conditions associated with blood clotting that can even be life-threatening.

Despite the widespread use of such devices, a growing number of reports in recent years have suggested that these devices can cause serious injuries and complications of their own.

IVC filter lawsuits filed across the U.S. allege that the benefits of these products are not worth the risk they pose to patients, and allege that the devices themselves may be more harmful than the blood clots they are intended to treat.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received a slew of adverse event reports over the past decade about IVC filer complications. Hundreds of patients have reportedly suffered from punctured organs and filter migrations, as well as other problems.

Filing a Lawsuit over IVC Filter Complications

This Celect IVC filter complications lawsuit, which targets one particular IVC filter product, as well as many others like it, claim that Cook Medical should take responsibility for the harmful effects their devices have allegedly had on patients and families across the country.

Injured patients have filed lawsuits against a number of companies that make these vena cava filter devices, citing a number of serious IVC filter complications including organ damage due to filter migration and breaks.

If you or someone you love has suffered from IVC filter complications after being implanted with a Cook Celect device or something similar you may be able to file a IVC filter lawsuit.

The IVC Filter Complications Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-02399-SEB-DML, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.