The lawsuit was filed by Barbara P., a woman who was implanted with the C.R. Bard Eclipse® Vena Cava Filter on September 20, 2011 at a hospital in New York.
Eclipse is a 4th-generation inferior vena cava (IVC) filter. It was approved in June 2010, soon after Bard pulled the 3rd-generation G2 and G2 Express filters off the market without a recall.
Bard Denali© IVC Filter
In November 2010, a study linked the G2 with “high prevalences of fracture and embolization, with potentially life-threatening sequelae.” In 2014, another study found a 40% 5-year fracture risk with G2 filters.
Eclipse is nearly identical to the G2. The only big design change was a more highly-polished surface. Like its predecessors, Eclipse fracture complications were soon reported to the FDA, and Eclipse was replaced by a 5th-generation filter called the Meridian in August 2011.
Meridian was nearly identical to Eclipse, with no major design changes besides a few barbs on the legs to decrease migration. It was associated with 38 reports of spontaneous fractures in 2013 alone.
Bard currently sells only one IVC filter — the Denali, which was approved in June 2013. Bard addressed fractures concerns with older models by re-designing the Denali with new materials and a new manufacturing process using single-piece laser-cutting technology.
Lawyers say Bard knew (or should have known) that the Eclipse IVC filter was potentially defective because it had the similar problems as older devices with nearly-identical designs. The company is accused of negligence for failing to test Eclipse for serious health hazards.
The lawsuit was filed on February 8, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona — Case No. 2:17-cv-00405.
It will be centralized with over 1,360 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 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.