In May, after a three-week trial a Texas jury handed down a verdict that will see Cook Medical paying out over a million dollars to a Texas resident. The jury awarded Jefferey Pavlock, a Houston firefighter, $1.2 million for his claims that his Cook Celect IVC filter caused serious injuries, specifically organ and blood vessel perforation.
Pavlock had a surgery in March of 2015 where a Cook Celect IVC filter was implanted in order to avoid blood clots from traveling to his heart and lungs. Medical professionals intended the implant to be temporary, but surgeons ran into complications and struggled to remove the implant weeks later. After attempting to retrieve the Cook Celect IVC filter doctors learned that they would be unable to do so after it was found the Celect IVC filter had migrated and tilted from its intended location.
As a result of the migration and tilting, the Cook Celect IVC filter had embedded itself within Pavlock’s blood vessel and the legs of the device had punctured his aorta and small intestine in the duodenum. The Houston firefighter underwent a second surgery to remove the filter, but that was also unsuccessful. According to the claims made by Pavlock, he must now undergo continued medical monitoring for the rest of his life.
At the center of this lawsuit were the allegations that Cook Medical had manufactured a device that was defectively designed. Counsel for Pavlock also argued that Cook Medical knew of the perforation problems connected to their products prior to its FDA clearance, but pushed the devices to market nonetheless. Ultimately, the jurors concluded that Cook Medical failed to adequately warn medical professionals of the high risk of implant migrations and perforation linked with the Cook Celect IVC filter.
Cook issued a statement in which they plan to appeal this decision.
If you or a loved one has had a procedure involving an IVC filter and has experienced complications and/or negative side effects please contact Naumes Law Group for a free consultation at 844-826-8445 or online at www.naumeslaw.com.