A cardiac catheter is a medical device widely used to perform a different procedure every day in the United States. In the United States, millions of catheters are used at any given time. A catheter is used for various reasons, but the major one is medication administration, removing blood clots in the veins and arteries, and injecting contrast dyes. It is expected that there have to be some procedure-related and patient-related complications in any invasive procedure. The complications though, have reduced with the improvement in skills of operation due to advancement in technology.

Some of the conditions evaluated using a cardiac catheter are coronary disease, evaluation of the left ventricular function, assessing and treating valvular diseases, assessing congenital heart diseases, assessing myocardial and pericardial disease and, evaluating heart failure. Some of the defects that lead to injuries resulting from a cardiac catheter are breakages, migration to blood vessels, and getting stuck.

 There are times when you and other patients will suffer a common injury from a cardiac catheter. This can be due to negligence by the specialist or the specialist using a defective cardiac catheter. In this case, you and the other victims have a legal right to file for a mass tort to get compensation for the damages and injuries caused on you and the rest.

For any catastrophic event involving medical devices, dangerous consumer products, or a pharmaceutical device to you and other patients, mass tort litigation will serve as a legal means. Mass tort assists in filing a lawsuit for individuals with a common target. Mass tort cases in the USA can be a complex and lengthy procedure to do on your own, despite the substantial rewards to you and society.

Suppose you have a mass tort case like one of a cardiac catheter. Therefore, you must look for legal representation and guidance from an experienced team of attorneys from Customer Alert Now in the USA. Please do not take the time to contact us to help file a lawsuit against the catheters' manufacturers.

Understanding Mass Tort

A mass tort is a complex process where an injury occurs to many individuals due to the use of a similar product, like a cardiac catheter. The individuals will seek compensation from an individual as a group. Therefore, it will be the fault of the overseeing party or the manufacturing company that the injuries occurred. That is the reason why Customer Alert Now in the USA has come up to help you hold the other party accountable for your injuries. The court is the one that decides if the case filed suits as a mass tort basing on the following conditions:

  • Whether the injuries sustained by you and the other patients are similar
  • Whether the injuries you have sustained are from a common cause; single disaster or product and
  • The number of patients involved in the lawsuit.

The mass tort has advantages when it comes to compensation. This is because many patients seeking to be compensated for the injuries caused by a particular party can do so by filing for a mass tort lawsuit from one personal injury attorney. The attorney helps in the investigation, and the negligent party will, therefore, be held responsible for your injuries. A mass tort lawsuit also eases the proof of claim due to a large number of plaintiffs.

Characteristic of Mass Tort Cases

Mass tort involves many people filing a lawsuit with similar charges against one individual. With that in mind, mass tort cases are, therefore, identical in characteristics.

  • They have many claims derived from a single event or product: An example is when you and other patients file a lawsuit against the cardiac catheter manufacturer after you have developed similar complications after the use.
  • Mass tort claims are factual and have common legal issues: The causes have similar or identical laws and facts. They are associated with a single disaster action, event, or product.
  • The plaintiffs have a common goal. It means that the value of the claims varies with the individual's outcome or any other critical development.
  • The cases are usually consolidated: The consolidation is done in the beginning to promote judicial economy and consistency. There is one judge who will decide the preliminary issues of discovery and law.
  • Every plaintiff has their case: In a mass tort lawsuit, you retain control over the decision regarding your case. If a jury tries your case, it will be, at most times, be tried independently of other mass tort cases.

Consolidation of mass tort cases and serving the cases differently, the court usually seeks to balance your interest and that of other patients. That will enable you to have fair compensation for your injuries in a timely and cost-effective court proceeding.

In mass tort cases, consolidation is done for different purposes:

  • For pre-trial procedures that involve generic causation and discovery
  • Case management by a briefing, where the court considers evidentiary and various legal issues.
  • To weigh the sufficiency of testimony from the expert witnesses.
  • To resolve any issue that will arise during the discovery process.

After all that is done, your case will proceed individually where the trial is done. In case your injury or damage requires compensation, you will receive compensation for the same.

Stages You Should Follow to File A Mass Tort Lawsuit

In a mass tort lawsuit, individuals file their lawsuit, but the cases are handled together for convenience. Just like any other case, there are the stages that you should follow to file for a mass tort lawsuit. For a mass tort lawsuit, there is a likelihood that both parties lose because the judge has to ensure that you and other patients have a valid claim for the compensation.

Mass Tort Lawyer Reviews the Records

For a judge to confirm that your case deserves a mass tort lawsuit, your attorney will review several records. The attorney will review the statements that you and other plaintiffs have made against the defendant, including the allegations of the injuries you have sustained.  A medical history will also be reviewed to determine whether you had a pre-existing condition. They will also confirm the timeline at which you claim to have been injured.

The attorney will have to get consistency for the clients because it is a lawsuit meant to cover many patients against one individual. The attorney will look for similarities for the injuries sustained or damages caused by the catheter amongst the plaintiffs to make the mass tort lawsuit successful.

The Mass Tort Lawyer Identifies Consistency of the Injuries

For a case to qualify as a mass tort, the attorney has to identify the injuries' consistency. In most cases, the plaintiffs usually have similar injuries and, therefore, will have similar claims. For example, a defective cardiac catheter can lead to perforation of the blood vessels in many patients. In this case, the patients have suffered a similar injury. Therefore, the attorney will build a single case for you and the other patients against the defendant, although you will each have your lawsuit.

The lawsuit's structure will be similar, and only a few cases will be used to determine the fate of the other cases. Therefore, it means that if there is a case that will not fit into the pattern of the lawsuit, you may not receive your compensation. The mass tort attorney will categorize the cases if the severity of the injuries is different. Age and duration of the injuries can be used to classify the injuries. To determine the damages caused once the case settles, the judge assigns a category under which each case will fall.

Filing the Lawsuit

A mass tort is best filed together in a federal court, even if you come from different parts of the country. Mass tort claims have to be consolidated for convenience, effectiveness in the use of judicial resources, and uniformity. It also helps the judge make a fast decision for everyone involved in the case since each patient’s lawsuit is similar.

The trial also happens in the federal court. Therefore, it is important that you hire an experienced attorney from Customer Alert Now because they know the legal procedure followed in filing a mass tort lawsuit and understanding its structure.

Trying of Bellwether Cases

A handful of cases are tried in court before the entire case is tried. The attorney will help identify severe cases that will be tried first, such as those resulting in death or severe cardiac catheter use damage. Bellwether cases are a form of test for the juries and the judges. The cases will determine the route that the other cases will have to follow. If the evidence is not enough to charge the defendant at this stage, then the other entire lawsuit will not proceed. Therefore, it is crucial to have a mass tort attorney who understands the mass tort lawsuits and one who will take the bellwether cases more seriously.

Judicial Panel on Litigation

The litigation process for the federal system is initiated by filing a motion before the judges. The judicial panel usually meets a few times in a month to discuss various requests by individuals. The judges can have the federal system cases consolidated and transferred to one federal judge. The judicial panel looks into the case for them to consider if they are appropriate to fit as a mass tort. They consider:

  • If there is a common issue among the plaintiffs for the damages and injuries sustained
  • If the number of plaintiffs filing the lawsuit is enough to make it a mass tort
  • If there is a disparity for the parties involved, in terms of geography.
  • Whether the cases' centralization will be useful in utilizing the personnel, facilities, and judicial resources.
  • Whether the process will be delayed by centralization.

Once the mass tort has been designed, a judge is selected to establish how issues will be looked at. For example, the judge will look into pre-trial procedures, calendaring, forms and discovery matters, and other details for the trial process. The Discovery process will involve obtaining the testimony data and relevant documents from you and the defendants. When the trial begins, your attorney will draw all the proof that they have collected to help you win the case.

Claim Settlement

The settlement is the final step for a mass tort lawsuit in the USA. There is a likelihood that almost all mass tort cases are settled, even though it may take months or years to do so. The mass tort lawsuits are usually complicated and time-consuming, which takes a lot of time to settle.

Why Mass Tort Lawsuit Can Be Challenging to Resolve

Some issues make the mass tort cases challenging to resolve. They are:

Legal and Factual Issues

For the litigation process to go through, both the plaintiffs and the defendant’s attorney should be ready to spend their time and capital for the sake of their clients. The value of the estimates is uncertain, and the risk involved is high. The settlement can, therefore, be challenging to achieve.

Difficulty in Establishing the Cause of the Injuries

The evidence for injuries can be uncertain because it links harm, exposure, and product use. There can also be an uncertainty depending on how the jury and the judge will evaluate the evidence. Therefore, your attorney has a significant role in ensuring that they prove that the defendant is responsible for your injuries. Your attorney should also prove before the court that the injuries you have sustained due to the use of the cardiac catheter are of monetary value.

The Risky Nature for Mass Tort Litigations

The attorney for both the plaintiff and the defendant faces similar risks before the judge makes a decision. Each attorney has to defend their cases to reduce more risks incurred if any of the party loses. The reason being, if one of the parties loses, the other party will have an opportunity to dig deeper to ensure they get enough benefits from the losing party.

Future Plaintiffs and Future Injuries

There can be uncertainties if you suffer more injuries in the future after a mass tort lawsuit has been settled. The compensation claim will no longer be filed as a mass tort because there is a likelihood that there will not be any other person with the same injuries.

There Can be Conflict of Interest.

When filing the mass tort lawsuit by the plaintiffs, they usually have a common goal. Once the case is settled, you find that each individual will conflict regarding how much they should be compensated. The level of injury is different from each individual, and compensation will depend on the short-term or the long-term needs of each individual.

The Dilemma of Aggregation

The consolidation for the cases may cause a dilemma because one ruling is done and affects all the involved parties. For example, suppose the mass tort lawsuit involves two defendants, each with different levels of exposure. In that case, the defendants will not agree on the right solution because the exposure is different if they lose.

Complications Associated with the Use of Cardiac Catheter

A cardiac catheter is used to perform procedures in the left and right parts of the heart. It is used to perform diagnostic and therapeutic interventions depending on the need of the patient. You will find that there are instances where you or other patients report a malfunction with catheter use; for example, they do not administer the drugs well, and they do not drain the fluids well. That can make you suffer severe injuries in their heart in terms of health.

Suppose a catheter in medical procedures has low chances of developing major complications unless the specialist acts negligently or the manufacturer produced a faulty catheter. Many factors determine the rate of complications with the use of a cardiac catheter. These factors are the patients’ demographics, vascular anatomy, the procedure being performed, the operator's experience, and the clinical presentation.

 Complications range from minor ones like a feeling of discomfort to severe complications like death. If you and other patients suffer a similar complication as described below, you should file for a mass tort lawsuit to get compensation from the cardiac catheter manufacturer. Some of the complications you may develop from the use of cardiac catheter are:

Hematoma/Retroperitoneal Bleeding

It is one of the common complications that you may develop from the use of a cardiac catheter. Hematoma forms after a poorly controlled removal of the hemostasis post sheath. Immediate medical attention in the form of imaging is required to make a diagnosis and avoid further problems. If you and other patients suffer hematoma from the use of a cardiac catheter, your specialist will have your blood vessels coiled or covered to stop further bleeding.

PseudoAneurysm

Pseudo Aneurysm develops if the hematoma is not well treated, and the bleeding continues to other sensitive parts of your heart. As a result, a pulsatile mass forms known as Pseudo Aneurysm. A pseudoaneurysm can heal depending on its size; small sizes will heal faster than those with big sizes. An ultrasound-guided compression is required to treat the complication, and in severe cases, surgical intervention will be necessary.

Arteriovenous Fistula

A cardiac catheter may lead to Arteriovenous Fistula. It is a form of direct communication between the arteries and the veins. The complication develops as a result of puncture to the blood vessel using a cardiac Catheter during catheterization. It is a condition that is unlikely to heal and will require surgical exploration to heal. You and other patients can file for a mass tort lawsuit in severe cases like Arteriovenous Fistula because it can have severe effects on your health.

Dissection May Come Up.

It is a condition that you will develop if you have a traumatic sheath placement or tortuous arteries. The complication can lead to further complications in the limbs. Dissection will require immediate medical attention to prevent further injuries in your heart or any other part of your body.

Thrombosis and Embolism

It is a complication that results from the use of low profile cardiac catheters. The complication is also associated with certain predisposing factors such as diabetes mellitus, large-diameter sheath, and small vessel lumen. The complication is treated by removing the occlusive sheath through a vascular surgery procedure by a qualified physician.

Vascular Complication

It is a complication that results from cardiac catheter use and is common to many patients. The complication can be treated by a specialist through imaging to manage it.

Myocardial Infarction

It is one of the major complications that you may develop due to the use of a cardiac catheter. It is also influenced by factors like acute coronary syndrome, heart disease, and technique-related factors.

Stroke May Result

You may suffer a stroke with the use of a cardiac catheter. Stoke increases the risk of difficulty in mobility. It occurs mostly in patients with complex anatomy, those who require multiple catheter exchanges, those who have had excessive manipulation with a cardiac catheter, and those who need extensive and stiff catheters.

Perforated and Dissected Great Walls. It is a rare complication that results from an intervention procedure using a catheter. You will require urgent medical intervention if you suffer the complication to restore stability. It will be done through a surgical consultation.

Find A Mass Tort Attorney Near Me

When a cardiac catheter has affected you and many other patients in the USA, you can solve the issue through the litigation process. You can do that by filing a mass tort lawsuit against the cardiac catheter manufacturer to compensate for the damages and injuries inflicted on you. If you are not sure of what attorney to hire, we at Customer Alert Now will help you file a lawsuit to defend your case. Its attorney has been helping people with different personal injury cases, especially those of a mass tort, and patients have received their fair compensation. Contact us through 800-511-0747 to get help in filing a mass tort lawsuit in the USA.