Blood Clot Filter Lawsuits
IVC blood clot filters are medical devices placed in the inferior vena cava and are designed to catch blood clots and stop them from traveling to the heart or lungs. The inferior vena cava is a vein that returns blood to the heart from the lower portion of the body. In certain people, blood clots from in vessels in the legs and pelvis and travel through the vena cava and into the lungs. Once the clots reach the lungs they cause a condition known as pulmonary embolism. This condition, if not immediately treated, presents grave risk to human life and often results in death. IVC blood clot filters were originally designed to prevent this condition from ever occurring.
However, recent studies have shown that the IVC blood clot filters do not work. In fact, the filters have been shown to double the risk of pulmonary embolism, the very condition which they are intended to prevent. Worse still, these filters present an increased risk of fracturing, tilting within the inferior vena cava, perforating the wall of the inferior vena cava (frequently penetrating into other organs and tissues such as the aorta and duodenum), and migrating through the body.