Fort Lauderdale IVC Filter Lawyer

Patients who have experienced complications from inferior vena cava filters (IVC), implanted to capture clotting blood before it reaches vital organs, may be entitled to compensation.

The Fort Lauderdale IVC filter lawyers are accepting cases to pursue damages for patients and hold device manufacturers legally accountable for the harm the device has caused.

Skilled mass torts lawyers have extensive experience with these cases and can tell if a situation involving these devices can succeed. The attorney invites IVC filters patients to take advantage of a free consultation without any obligation to hire the attorney.

Attorney fees are paid at the end of the case from the damages awarded so it does not cost anything to begin legal action.

History of IVC Filters

IVC filters are supposed to catch blood clots before they migrate to vital organs.

The long spindling arms of IVC filters are known to break away from their location in a vein below the kidneys or become fractured. The filters or fragments of them, can move to the heart and lungs and other vital organs and cause death or serious injury. Blood clots can also clog the filters.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has several hundred patient reports of the device migrating or fracturing, according to DrugWatch. About 25 percent of these devices fail.

Older IVC filters were permanent while newer designs can be retrieved. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported a study of 952 IVC filter patients in 2013 and of those patients about 680 had retrievable IVC filters.

Risks Associated with IVC Filters

About 250,000 people have blood clot filters implanted every year in the U.S., most without incident. However, the potential risks of implanting IVC filters can be significant. Risks include:

• The vein can be damaged or perforated requiring further surgery
• The IVC filter could shift position after surgery and require repositioning
• Blood clots can bypass the filter but the risk of pulmonary embolism is lower
• The IVC filter may cause clots, though that is rare
• The IVC filter may not be removable

Legal Grounds for Lawsuits

Manufacturers of products have a legal duty not to cause harm to anyone. Under strict liability law, they can be held negligent without proof if harm is caused. A Fort Lauderdale IVC Filter lawyer can make this argument on an injured patient’s behalf.

The basis for strict liability is a defective design of the product, mistakes in manufacturing, negligent misrepresentation of the product in its marketing materials, breach of implied warranty, and failure to adequately warn patients or doctors about problems with the product. Manufacturer subsidiaries can also be sued.

Manufacturers of IVC Filters

Eleven companies make IVC filters and some have been sued for causing harm, some of which are:

• Bard G2 Filter
• Bard G2 Express Filter
• Bard Recovery Filter
• Boston Scientific Greenfield Filter
• Cook Celect Filter
• Cook Günther Tulip Filter

NBC news reported that Bard kept its G2 and G2 Express Filters on the market for five years and sold 160,000 of them rather than recalling them. FDA and Bard records revealed hundreds of problems with the two devices and at least 12 fatalities.

How a Fort Lauderdale IVC Filter Attorney Can Help

The Fort Lauderdale IVC filter lawyer will calculate the total amount of actual monetary damages and estimate the cost of anticipated medical care not yet provided. If the case is settled between the litigants, the attorney will aggressively negotiate damages on the patient’s behalf.