Lawsuit Claims SmartPort Migrated Out of Position Due to Defective Design

Lawsuit Claims SmartPort Migrated Out of Position Due to Defective Design

As attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants in federal AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits work on deciding which claims should be the first to go to trial, individuals nationwide continue to file complaints indicating that the implants are defectively designed, leading to device migration, infections and other serious complications.

AngioDynamics port catheters are commonly used in patients who require frequent intravenous infusions of fluids and medications, such as during chemotherapy. The implants consist of a subdermal port connected to a catheter and are meant to be left in for long periods of time.

However, lawsuits involving the company’s SmartPort, Vortex Port, Xcela Port and other port catheter products allege that they are defectively designed and prone to serious complications. As a result, patients report experiencing painful and devastating injuries caused by catheter fractures, infections, device migration and thrombosis, which often result in the need for additional surgery to remove or replace the failed implant.

According to a complaint (PDF) filed by Vicky Sturgill on October 1, against AngioDynamics Inc. and Navilyst Medical Inc., it was the company’s SmartPort device that failed her, leading to injuries and the need for its removal.

AngioDynamics-Port-Catheter-Lawsuits
AngioDynamics-Port-Catheter-Lawsuits

The lawsuit indicates that Sturgill, of Kentucky, was implanted with a SmartPort in January 2017, for chemotherapy treatment of her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

By July of that year, the device was no longer working, causing problems when doctors attempted to use the port catheter to draw blood. They discovered that the device was “malpositioned” and blocked by a fibrin sheath deposition. The implant was removed days later.

The complaint notes that the surgery left Sturgill with permanent injuries and substantial physical deformity, which could have been avoided if her doctors had been adequately warned and given appropriate instructions on how to avoid such outcomes. Sturgill argues that although the manufacturers had been aware of such problems for years, they failed to report them, add new label warnings, or alter the port catheter’s advertising or design.

“Soon after the SmartPort was introduced to market, which was years before Plaintiff was implanted with his device, Defendants began receiving large numbers of adverse event reports (‘AERs’) from health care providers reporting that the SmartPort was fracturing post-implantation and that fractured pieces were migrating throughout the human body, including to the heart and lungs.”

Sturgill v. AngioDynamics et al.

She presents claims of failure to warn, design defect, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment, and seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

AngioDynamics Port Catheter Lawsuit Update

Sturgill’s complaint will be centralized with about 130 similar AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits in the Southern District of California under U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, as part of a federal MDL, or multidistrict litigation, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Judge Ohta is also overseeing preparations for a series of early test trials. These “bellwether” cases are intended to gauge how juries may respond to key evidence and expert testimony that will be central to claims throughout the MDL and could help drive port catheter settlement negotiations or shape the course of future trials.

On the same day Sturgill’s lawsuit was filed, the parties turned in a proposed plan for selecting 18 potential bellwether trials, focusing on three types of injuries, including infections, device fractures and thrombosis. Plaintiffs and defendants propose trimming the number down to eight bellwether trial lawsuits by December 11, 2026.

While the results of those bellwether trials will not be binding on other plaintiffs pursuing claims, they could help gauge how juries will respond to similar evidence and testimony likely to be repeated throughout the litigation. In addition, the average AngioDynamics port lawsuit payouts awarded by juries may help lawyers negotiate settlements in other claims.

Following the MDL proceedings, if the parties do not reach a resolution for the litigation, Judge Ohta may then remand each case back to the U.S. District Court where it originated for a future trial date.


Written By: Irvin Jackson

Senior Legal Journalist & Contributing Editor

Irvin Jackson is a senior investigative reporter at AboutLawsuits.com with more than 30 years of experience covering mass tort litigation, environmental policy, and consumer safety. He previously served as Associate Editor at Inside the EPA and contributes original reporting on product liability lawsuits, regulatory failures, and nationwide litigation trends.




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