Port Catheter Blood Clot Results in Lawsuit Against Device Manufacturer

Woman began to suffer swelling throughout her upper body, leading to a CT scan that revealed a blood clot surrounding her Vortex port catheter implant.

An Arizona woman has filed a lawsuit indicating that she suffered blood clots due to the defective design and manufacture of a port catheter sold by AngioDynamics, resulting in injuries and additional surgery to remove the implant.

Anna Price brought the complaint (PDF) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on January 28, naming AngioDynamics Inc. and Navilyst Medical Inc. as defendants, indicating they failed to properly design the Vortex port catheter, and then exacerbated that failure by misrepresenting the device’s safety and effectiveness.

The Vortex port is just one of many port catheter designs by AngioDynamics and other medical device manufacturers, which are implanted to give doctors a way to repeatedly deliver drugs and fluids into a patient’s body, consisting of an injection port and polyurethane silicon catheter.

However, the devices have been plagued by reports of failures, infections, broken and migrating pieces and embolism risks. These problems have led to intense scrutiny of port catheters from AngioDynamics and other medical device manufacturers. As a result, a growing number of AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits and Bard PowerPort lawsuits are being pursued in the federal court system.

Price received the port catheter in April 2010 as part of her chemotherapy treatment following a lymphoma diagnosis, allowing doctors to access her veins repeatedly without the need for regular needle sticks.

In September 2014, Price went to the hospital after developing swelling in her face, neck, and upper extremities, along with a rash. A CT scan later revealed a thrombus, or blood clot, surrounding her port catheter, requiring the device to be surgically removed the following month.

The lawsuit indicates that AngioDynamics not only failed to warn patients and doctors about potential port catheter problems, but it continued to promote the device as safe and effective once it was aware of those concerns.

“Rather than alter the design of the Vortex to make it safer or adequately warn physicians of the dangers associated with the Vortex, Defendants continued to actively and aggressively market the Vortex as safe, despite their knowledge of numerous reports of fracture, thrombosis, infection, and associated injuries.”

– Anna Price v. AngioDynamics Inc. et al

The complaint presents claims of negligence, failure to warn, design defect, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment and violation of Massachusetts Consumer Protection Laws, where AngioDynamics is headquartered, and is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

Port Catheter Lawsuit Bellwether Trials

Price’s claim will be consolidated with hundreds of similar AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits filed in federal courts nationwide in the Southern District of California under Judge Jinsook Ohta, who is leading the litigation through coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Judge Ohta has instructed the parties to prepare 18 cases for a series of port catheter bellwether trials designed to see how juries interpret the evidence and testimony that would likely be repeated throughout the litigation.

While these early trial dates will not be binding on other port catheter claims, they could have significant influence on any potential AngioDynamics port catheter settlement negotiations. However, if the bellwether trials end without a settlement being reached, Judge Ohta may remand the cases back to their original courts for individual trial dates.