Bard G2 IVC Filter Lawsuit Alleges Device Erosion Caused Aortic Injury

Manufacturer continues to face new IVC filter lawsuits following settlement agreements resolving most claims.

A Missouri man has filed a product liability lawsuit alleging he suffered life-threatening injuries when his Bard G2 inferior vena cava (IVC) filter eroded through the wall of his aorta, causing serious injuries that required an aortic stent.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Jason Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on October 6, naming Becton, Dickinson and Company and its subsidiaries, C.R. Bard Inc. and Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., as defendants.

Robinson is one of thousands of patients who filed claims after suffering severe injuries due to problems with removable IVC filters. While most Bard IVC filter lawsuits have been settled, the manufacturer could face claims for years to come as devices continue to fail.

IVC Filter Problems

IVC filters are small devices implanted to catch blood clots on the way to the heart, preventing a pulmonary embolism. They are often placed in individuals suffering from deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  

Bard is just one manufacturer of the small, spider-like devices, which also include Cook Medical’s Celect line and Gunther Tulip IVC filters. Both manufacturers face allegations that the designs are defective, leading to tilting, migration, perforation and implant fracturing. This can result in puncturing the vena cava and other nearby organs and arteries, as well as sending fractured components into the bloodstream to become lodged elsewhere in the body.

Individuals who have pursued IVC filter lawsuits allege that the manufacturers failed to properly design and test the devices and did not adequately warn the medical community or patients of the potential health and device failure risks.

Bard IVC Filter Erosion Allegations

According to the lawsuit, Robinson received a Bard G2 IVC filter in July 2009. Fourteen years later, in July 2023, the device allegedly eroded through the wall of his aorta, puncturing the major artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

Damage to the aorta can cause severe internal bleeding and quickly become life-threatening. Robinson underwent surgery to repair the injury, including the placement of an aortic stent graft.

He alleges the procedure would not have been necessary if the manufacturers had properly designed and tested the filter.

“Defendants knew prior to manufacturing the G2 Filters and placing them into the stream of commerce that they were defective and unreasonably dangerous due to filter failure, including, but not limited to piercing/perforation of tissue, fracture and/or migration.”

– Jason Robinson v. Becton, Dickinson and Company et al.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of acting in a “willful, wanton and malicious manner” and acting with complete indifference when it came to the safety of patients receiving its IVC filters. It notes that Bard attempted to save money by not electro-polishing the devices, which allegedly left them weak and prone to structural failure.

Robinson presents claims of negligence, design defect, manufacturing defect, defect due to inadequate warning, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment and gross negligence. He seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

The complaint will be folded into a Bard IVC filter multidistrict litigation (MDL), which was established in the District of Arizona in 2015 before U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell, who presided over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

IVC Filter Lawsuits

In addition to the Bard litigation, a separate Cook IVC filter lawsuit MDL has been consolidated in the District of Southern Indiana before U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young, where cases are undergoing coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Judge Young has directed attorneys to prepare a group of representative cases for early bellwether trials. These test claims are intended to provide insight into how juries may respond to evidence and testimony likely to arise throughout the IVC filter litigation.

At the same time, the court has encouraged plaintiffs and Cook Medical to pursue settlement negotiations, which have reportedly broadened over the past year as the parties consider ways to resolve large numbers of claims without requiring thousands of separate trials.

If the bellwether process does not lead to a broader resolution, Judge Young may begin returning unresolved cases to the federal courts where they were originally filed for preparation for individual trial dates.

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