SmartPort Blood Clots Led to Husband’s Death, Wife’s Lawsuit Claims

Lawsuit claims AngioDynamics hid reports of problems with its port catheters for years, despite receiving hundreds of adverse event reports.

An Oklahoma man who received an AngioDynamics SmartPort catheter for lung cancer treatment later suffered severe complications from the device, ultimately leading to his death.

In a complaint (PDF) filed on November 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Elizabeth Bass alleges that her husband, Albert Ballew, died last month from thrombosis injuries caused by a defect in the SmartPort catheter. The lawsuit names AngioDynamics Inc. and Navilyst Medical Inc. as defendants.

The AngioDynamics SmartPort belongs to a line of port catheters, also known as port-a-caths, including the Vortex Port and Xcela Port, which are designed to provide a way for doctors to give patients repeated drug and fluid injections needed for some medical treatments, such as chemotherapy. It consists of an injection port and a polyurethane or silicone catheter.

Several models of implantable port catheters have come under scrutiny in recent years, as recipients, or surviving family members, continue to file AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits and Bard PowerPort lawsuits over similar device failures. Many of the complaints raise nearly identical allegations that design defects cause the catheters to degrade over time, developing microfractures that lead to infections, blood clots, device migration, and the need for corrective surgery.

A key issue identified in both series of lawsuits is the use of barium sulfate, a compound added to the catheter material to make it visible on X-rays. Plaintiffs allege that excessive concentrations of barium sulfate weaken the polymer structure, making the ports brittle and prone to cracking or fracturing once implanted in the body.

According to the complaint, Ballew underwent surgery in February 2023 to implant a Smart Port CT Single Titanium Port System as part of his lung cancer treatment. By July, he was back in the hospital due to severe pain in his arm.

Medical imaging later revealed that Ballew had developed acute thrombosis caused by two blood clots linked to the SmartPort device, a condition that can lead to stroke, heart attack or pulmonary embolism. Despite treatment, his condition worsened, and he died on October 3, 2025.

According to the lawsuit, defendants AngioDynamics Inc. and its subsidiary Navilyst Medical Inc. were aware of the problem for years, having received hundreds of similar reports from other SmartPort recipients who suffered comparable complications.

“As outlined in this Complaint, the Defendants SmartPort CT device that was
implanted into the Decedent contained manufacturing defects when it left the Defendants’ possession. The manufacturing defect created an unreasonably dangerous risk of injury and in fact, brought about the injuries that precipitated and resulted in the Decedent’s death.”

— Elizabeth Bass et al. v. Angiodynamics Inc. et al.

Bass presents charges of negligence, design defect, manufacturing defect, failure to warn, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment, violations of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, wrongful death and survival. She seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

November 2025 AngioDynamics Lawsuit Update

All federal lawsuits over AngioDynamics port catheters, including SmartPort, Vortex Port and Xcela Port models, have been centralized before U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta in the Southern District of California, where she is overseeing coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

As of earlier this month, the company faces at least 252 claims alleging that design defects cause the catheters to fracture, migrate, or trigger infections and thrombosis injuries.

Judge Ohta recently approved a bellwether trial process that will test how juries respond to these allegations. Both sides will select nine cases each, creating a pool of 18 lawsuits representing the range of reported injuries, including infections, fractures and blood clots.

Plaintiffs chosen for this initial pool must submit fact sheets by mid-2026, followed by case-specific discovery through the end of the year. From that group, eight lawsuits will move forward as potential bellwether trials to gauge how juries evaluate the evidence and expert testimony.

These early trials are expected to influence any potential AngioDynamics port catheter settlement negotiations. If no agreement is reached, Judge Ohta may send unresolved cases back to their original courts for individual trials, a process that could take several years to complete.