The lawsuit was filed by Jeff S., a man who was implanted with the C.R. Bard G2® Vena Cava Filter on September 4, 2008 at a hospital in Georgia.
The G2 is a medical device that is implanted in the inferior vena cava (IVC) to catch blood clots. It is an “optional” filter that is supposed to be removed when it is no longer needed by a patient — ideally within 29-54 days after implantation, according to the FDA.
In theory, retrievability is a safety advantage compared to permanent IVC filters. In practice, however, studies show that less than 30% are removed. Complication rates increase the longer they are implanted. Tilting and vein perforations are very common after a few years.
One of the most serious complications occurs when the filter fractures and broken pieces travel in the bloodstream until they hit the heart.
For example, one case report from 2010 describes a 53 year-old man who was severely injured by a G2 IVC filter that fractured. One of the filter’s needle-like wire legs (called a “strut”) migrated to his heart and punctured through the right ventricle into his pericardium.
The complication caused cardiac tamponade — an irregular heart-rhythm disorder in which fluid fills the pericardium (a sac of tissue surrounding the heart) and puts pressure on the heart muscle. It can result in heart failure or death.
Soon after the case report was published, another study concluded by warning that “Bard G2 filters had high prevalences of fracture and embolization, with potentially life-threatening sequelae.” Other studies in more recent years have estimated that 38% of Bard G2 filters will fracture within 5 years.
C.R. Bard is facing a rapidly-growing number of lawsuits from people who were implanted with the G2 or Recovery Vena Cava Filters. Lawyers accuse Bard of downplaying side effects, failing to warn patients or doctors about complications, and inadequately testing the G2 for safety.
The lawsuit was filed on January 31, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona — Case No. 2:17-cv-00297.
It will be centralized with over 1,350 other IVC filter lawsuits now pending against C.R. Bard in Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2641)— In Re: Bard IVC Filters Products Liability Litigation.
The plaintiff is represented by Ben C. Martin of The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin in Dallas, Texas. He a trial attorney who serves as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the Cook IVC Filter MDL and is on the plaintiffs’ steering committee of the Bard IVC Filter MDL.
Editor’s note: For more information about IVC Filter lawsuits and your legal rights, please contact The Law Offices of Ben C. Martin.