IVC Filter Lawsuits

Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters can be used to prevent blood clots from forming, but they can also cause life-threatening issues if they malfunction. If you or a loved one suffered serious complications resulting from an IVC filter, you may be entitled to significant financial compensation. Contact the personal injury experts at the Cambridge firm of Altman & Altman LLP today to get started on a claim.

Between 2005 and 2010 alone, there were nearly 1,000 reports of malfunctioning IVC filters, the majority of which involved filters breaking and moving elsewhere in the body, which can cause jagged pieces of the filter to travel through the blood stream and become lodged in veins, pierce internal walls of blood vessels or other organs or cause partial or total clots, all of which can lead to significant health problems, such as:

• Irregular heartbeats
• Loss of consciousness
• Irregular breathing
• Chest pains
• Heart complications including fluid buildup around the heart
• Heart attacks or strokes
• Serious complications resulting in wrongful death

IVC filters are small devices that are utilized to prevent the formation of blood clots after other medical procedures, such as surgeries. IVC filters are designed to be incredibly thin, as they must be small enough to be threaded into the body through a patient’s skin. Most IVC filters are intended to be utilized on a temporary basis and removed later, but sometimes IVC filters must stay in a patient’s body permanently.

Despite many IVC filters being deployed on a temporary basis, one study found that as many as 25 percent of patients fitted with a supposedly temporary IVC filter were actually unable to have them removed at the end of the temporary period. This increases the likelihood that something can malfunction and lead to serious harm as a result.

Hundreds of thousands of patients have received IVC filters since 2012, and manufacturers of these products have faced significant legal consequences due to the tendency for these thin, fragile devices to break, causing potentially deadly injuries and at the least requiring additional surgical methods to remove the IVC filter from the body.

Some examples of companies facing lawsuits over their IVC filter products include:

• Bard recovery filter
• Bard G2 filter
• Bard G2 Express filter
• Cook Gunther Tulip filter
• Cook Celect filter
• Boston Scientific Greenfield filter

Whether these companies failed to produce a safe product in the first place by inadequately testing them to ensure they were suitable for their intended use, or if they failed to properly warn people about their potential hazards, companies are responsible for the harm that their products cause – and we can hold them accountable.

If you’re in a position where you need an IVC filter, chances are you are already in a position where your health is of grave concern and where you are probably nervous and scared about what you need to go through. The last thing you need to be concerned about is that IVC filter malfunctioning and becoming lodged inside your body, possibly leading you to have a secondary, serious medical issue.

IVC filter malfunctions can result in serious injuries that necessitate additional surgeries or corrective actions to fix, which can result in additional medical expenses, more time missed from work and an overall financial burden that can be detrimental to your recovery. In the worst cases, IVC filter malfunctions can lead to wrongful deaths.

Regardless the case, the professional personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP have over 50 years of experience advocating for our clients in Cambridge, the Greater Boston Area and throughout Massachusetts. We are tenacious and relentless in pursuing even the largest companies to seek justice for our clients, and we strive for only the best results.

Contact us online or call for a free consultation to go over the details of your case today at 617-492-3000 or toll-free at 800-481-6199. We are available 24/7.