The lawsuit was filed by William J. G., a man from Nevada who was implanted with the C.R. Bard G2® Vena Cava Filter on February 5, 2010.
Bard pulled the G2 off the market in 2010, the same year it was implanted in the plaintiff’s inferior vena cava (IVC).
His lawyers say Bard should have known the G2 was dangerous because it was so similar to another problematic filter called the Recovery.
Recovery was pulled off the market in 2005, soon after Bard’s own studies raised concerns about fracture and migration, but it was not recalled. The G2 was introduced in 2005 to replace the Recovery, but it had many of the same problems.
A recent investigation by NBC News found that Bard sold 162,000 G2 filters between 2005 and 2010. Hundreds of injuries and at least 12 deaths have been reported to the FDA, according to investigators.
These injury reports, and many more associated with other filters, are likely what prompted the FDA to recommend removing IVC filters in August 2010.
Later that year, a study estimated that 12% of G2 filters would fracture. The G2 and Recovery were also associated with high rates of tilting, migration, and embolization of broken pieces.
More recent studies are even more troubling. In June 2014, an even larger study estimated that 38% of G2 filters would fracture within 5 years, with the risk increasing over time.
C.R. Bard is accused of selling a defective medical device, failing to warn about side effects, and inadequately testing it for safety.
The lawsuit was filed on January 20, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona — Case No. 2:17-cv-00191.
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 serves 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.