Last month, a woman was awarded over $3 million after sustaining injuries from an IVC filter. The verdict comes almost four years after she initially suffered complications from the medical device. Jurors found the manufacturer 80% responsible for the device complications.
According to Drugwatch, Sherr-Una Booker had an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter implanted on June 21, 2007, to prevent blood clots in preparation for scheduled surgery to remove a cancerous mass. The filter, made by C.R. Bard, migrated and damaged several parts of her inferior vena cava, which carries blood from the lower body to the heart. She was hospitalized in 2014 due to the complications caused by the IVC filter and underwent an open-heart surgery to remove the floating pieces. Parts of the filter are still in her body and she fears she will have to undergo another surgery in the future.
Booker accused the filter’s manufacturer, C.R. Bard, of failing to warn doctors of the high failure rates of the medical device. A federal jury in Phoenix ordered C.R. Bard to pay $1.6 million for failure to warn about the device’s dangers and an additional $2 million in punitive damages. Bookers attorney believes that, “Bard’s failure to tell physicians what they knew about the failure of the product they were marketing and selling,” played a key role in the jury’s decision on an amount for punitive damages. Booker’s trial is the first “bellwether trial” to be conducted in Phoenix’s federal court, which mean’s her case was the first to be selected from a pool of similar lawsuits.
There are 3,639 pending lawsuits involving injuries sustained from IVC filters against C.R. Bard as of March 15. This trial was not only a win for the Plaintiff, but also marks progress in litigations involving C.R. Bard, providing a guide to upcoming settlement negotiations.
If you are a client who has sustained a personal injury from C.R. Bard’s IVC filter, we encourage those of you who still have the IVC filter implanted to seek follow up imaging from your medical providers. This imaging can be critical to determining if your IVC filter is tilted, fractured, embedded, or perforated. Not only can this imaging strengthen your case, it may also prove to be life saving or help deter serious injury. If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury as a result of a faulty medical device, call one of our attorneys at Schneider Hammers. We’re committed to holding medical manufacturers responsible.
