Cook Medical Defends Its Products Over Recent IVC Verdict

Cook Medical Defends Its Products Over Recent IVC Verdict

Introduction

The recent $33 million verdict by a Philadelphia jury to a woman who was injured using a blood filter manufactured by the company Rex Medical has resulted in Cook Medical to release a statement defending their IVC filter devices.

The recent IVC filter verdict won by the plaintiff, a Georgia resident, was one of its first trials by a Philadelphia jury, where the plaintiff won $1,045,764 million in future medical expenses and $2,322,650 million in future pain and suffering, along with $30,315,726 in punitive damages.

Cook Medical is facing more than 7,000 cases as of 16 September 2019, in Indiana federal court, and C.R. Bard is facing more than 8,600 in Arizona federal court. Cook Medical won the first IVC filter trial in 2017, which was followed by two losses in May 2018 and February 2019.

U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell determined about 600 Bard IVC filter cases are ready to be returned to different federal district courts nationwide for individual trial dates.

According to the Suggestion of Remand and Court Order (PDF) issued on August 20, the cases are being remanded as thousands of cases pending in the MDL have settled or are near a settlement, and the remaining cases would no longer benefit from centralized proceedings.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) will now take into account to remand unresolved claims, and the cases are expected to be reassigned to various individual judges to set trial dates if agreements are not reached by the parties to settle the cases.

An Inferior vena cava filter (IVC filter), earlier popularly known as Greenfield filter, is a medical device implanted in the inferior vena cava just below the kidneys to capture blood clots, preventing them from reaching the heart and lungs, thereby, safeguarding against life-threatening pulmonary emboli (PE). IVC filters were cleared for use through the 510(k) process since 1976. However, in 2010 the FDA issued a device safety communication after reviewing more than 900 adverse events related to the devices over a period of five-years.

More than 8,000 product liability lawsuits were filed against C.R. Bard, consolidated under MDL No. 2641 presided by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell. Each lawsuit had similar allegations that plaintiffs suffered pain and potential complications when the small devices moved out of position, penetrated internal organs, or fractured, causing small pieces to travel throughout the body.