PHILADELPHIA – A woman who sustained injuries from a device intended to prevent blood clots to vital organs was awarded more than $33 million in damages by a jury in Philadelphia on Monday.
The $33,684,140 jury verdict in favor of plaintiff Tracy Reed-Brown was comprised of $3,368,414 to compensate for future medical expenses and for future pain and suffering – plus, after a recommendation from the jury, $30,315,726 in punitive damages. The verdict follows a recent $8 billion punitive damages award in a Risperdal case against Johnson & Johnson, which alleges the judge high-fived jurors after.
Reed-Brown's was the very first case to go to a Philadelphia jury in litigation surrounding inferior vena cava filters – one of two new programs being handled in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas’s Complex Litigation Center, where almost 780 such cases reside.
More than 15,000 similar cases have been tallied at the federal judiciary level.
Vena cava filters are metal devices inserted into the inferior vena cava through the jugular vein. The umbrella-like shape of the device allows it to prevent blood clots traveling through the bloodstream before they can reach vital organs, preventing conditions like a pulmonary embolism.
However, allegations surfaced in recent years that the vena cava filters made and distributed by the defendants had a propensity to fracture or move inside a patient’s body, placing them at risk for serious medical difficulties and death.
In the instant action, Reed-Brown v. Rex Medical, L.P. Et.Al, plaintiff Reed-Brown of Lithonia, Ga. said she was implanted with the vena cava filter device, manufactured by defendant Rex Medical and distributed by co-defendant Argon Medical Devices, in December 2016.
Reed-Brown said the filter penetrated the wall of her vena cava, which the plaintiff said led to both pain and subsequent anxiety that the device would potentially break apart inside her heart, leading to a fatal injury.
According to her complaint and similar ones filed against the defendants, the companies allegedly failed to perform enough clinical tests to know that the filter device was both defective and dangerous, and failed to warn about the likelihood of the device to both fracture and move inside the body.
Reed-Brown’s claims against Rex Medical and Argon Medical Devices included negligence, strict liability, defective design, defective manufacturing, breach of warranty and negligent misrepresentation.
Timothy K. Goss, a member of plaintiff counsel, issued a statement on the verdict, saying it could be indicative of how future cases would proceed.
“We believe that this verdict is further proof that these filters have significant risks that outweigh any alleged benefit. Hopefully, this verdict will convince Rex to step up and compensate those claimants who have alleged injuries by their products. It is also further proof that the 510k “clearance” process that allows these and other products to be marketed is fatally flawed and Congress needs to overhaul the entire system,” Goss said.
Members of the defense counsel team, in addition to Rex Medical, did not respond to requests for comment from the Pennsylvania Record.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 170300241
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com