The lawsuit was filed by Richard S., a man from Wisconsin who was surgically implanted with a G2® Inferior Vena Cava Filter (“IVC Filter”) manufactured by C.R. Bard and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc.
C.R. Bard G2 X® Inferior Vena Cava Filter
The G2 IVC Filter was implanted in his body at a hospital in Wisconsin on November 12, 2008. The spider-shaped filter was supposed to stop blood clots from moving to his lungs and causing a fatal pulmonary embolism.
The G2 is a 2nd-generation retrievable IVC filter that was approved in 2005 as a replacement for Bard’s 1st-generation Recovery IVC Filter. There were no major design changes. Both filters were sold for just a few years before being pulled off the market without recalls.
Like the Recovery, the G2 did not go through clinical trials because Bard claimed it was “equivalent” to other filters. Studies show that both filters fracture in 38% of patients within five years, the highest risk of any IVC filter.
Bard sold around 160,000 G2 IVC filters from 2005 to 2010. Hundreds of injuries and at least 12 deaths are now associated with the G2, according to an investigation by NBC News.
In 2010, the year Bard pulled the G2 off the market, a study warned about “high rates of fracture and embolization,” and potentially life-threatening complications of the G2 and Recovery IVC filters.
The defendants are charged with 14 counts of product liability for manufacturing a defective device, failing to warn about side effects, negligence, breach of implied and express warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment, violation of laws against consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices, and punitive damages.
The lawsuit was filed on April 18, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona — Case No. 2:17-cv-01152-DGC.
C.R. Bard is currently facing approximately 1,700 other IVC filter lawsuits nationwide. The lawsuits have been centralized 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 is a trial attorney who 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.