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Cook IVC Filter MDL Litigation Heading to Southern Indiana
According to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), all pending federally filed Cook inferior vena cava (IVC) filter product liability and personal injury lawsuits will be consolidated and centralized to be heard in the Southern District of Indiana, for coordinated pretrial proceedings.
Cook IVC Filters are small metallic spider-like devices implanted by doctors to prevent blood clots from traveling from the leg (known as a deep vein thrombosis) to the lungs and causing a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung). There are two main models, the Cook Celect and Gunther Tulip filters. There are currently 32 complaints filed across the U.S. in various federal courts, alleging that design defects with Cook Celect and Gunther Tulip filters make the devices subject to fracture, migrate, tilt or perforate the inferior vena cava, aorta or other vital organs.
Many studies have found that the filters can cause serious injuries. According to an April 2012 study in the Cardiovascular Interventional Radiology, researchers found that 100% of Cook Celect and Gunther Tulip IVC filters perforated patients' venal cava wall within 71 days of implantation. The study also revealed that 40% of the filters became tilted and out of position. When this happens, a number of perforation types of injuries can occur in organs and blood vessels.