Bard IVC Filter Fracture Lawsuit Filed After Device Sent Metal Fragment Into Man’s Heart

Multiple broken pieces of the Bard G2 IVC filter had to be surgically removed from plaintiff’s body after the device fractured.

A Nevada man has filed a product liability lawsuit after doctors discovered part of a Bard G2 Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter stabbing into his heart.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Christopher O’Leary in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on October 20, naming C.R. Bard Inc. and Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc. as the defendants.

O’Leary claims he suffered severe chest pain and had to undergo additional surgeries due to repeated attempts to retrieve the broken strut from the fat surrounding his heart. He accuses C.R. Bard of designing a defective medical implant that put patients at unnecessary risk of severe injuries and death.

IVC Filter Concerns

IVC filters are often implanted in patients who suffer from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and other blood clot-related conditions, preventing the clots from moving into the heart and lungs and causing a pulmonary embolism.

Bard is not the only manufacturer of the small, spider-like devices, which also include Cook Medical’s Celect and Gunther Tulip IVC filters. Reports involving both manufacturers’ products include similar incidents of the devices fracturing, migrating out of position, and causing organ perforations.

This has led to numerous individuals filing IVC filter lawsuits against both manufacturers, alleging they failed to adequately design and test their IVC filters before placing the devices on the market.

Bard IVC Filter Fracture Allegations

According to the complaint, O’Leary first received a Bard G2 IVC Filter System in July 2009. However, he began to experience chest pain and admitted himself to the hospital in April 2026.

Doctors performed a number of tests, finding O’Leary suffered from pleuritic chest pain, abnormal EKG, hypertension and other heart abnormalities. A CT scan revealed a small angular piece of metal piercing his epidural fat, which surrounds the heart. The object was identified as a strut from the Bard G2 Filter that had broken off and traveled through O’Leary’s bloodstream to his heart.

Between early May and June of this year, O’Leary underwent several procedures, where doctors attempted to remove the strut, but had difficulty due to its location. On May 2026, they removed the original IVC filter, noting a fragment could not be removed despite multiple attempts. The piece from his heart was removed in early June, and the final piece of the filter that had been stuck in his vena cava was removed on June 26.

According to the lawsuit, C.R. Bard was aware of problems with the IVC filter for years through various incident reports from doctors and patients. However, O’Leary alleges that the company chose to continue marketing the faulty device for the sake of the company’s bottom line.

“Despite having knowledge as early as 2005 of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of the product, Bard and BPV consciously disregarded the known risks and continued to actively market and offer for sale the G2 Filter System and the G2 Express.”

– Christopher O’Leary v. C.R. Bard Inc. et al.

O’Leary indicates he suffered permanent and continuing injuries, loss of enjoyment of life, pain, suffering, impairment and emotional trauma, all of which have diminished his ability to take care of the affairs of daily life.

The lawsuit raises allegations of manufacturing defect, information defect/failure to warn, design defect, negligence, breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, intentional/fraudulent misrepresentation and unfair and deceptive trade practices. It seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

IVC Filter Lawsuits

The complaint is one of thousands of Bard IVC filter lawsuits the manufacturer has faced, which were once consolidated in the District of Arizona before U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

However, most of those cases have been settled, following a number of bellwether trials and massive verdicts against C.R. Bard. In 2019, Judge Campbell remanded Bard IVC filter lawsuits that did not settle back to the U.S. District Court where they would have originally been filed.

A similar multidistrict litigation (MDL) is currently centralized and underway in the District of Southern Indiana before U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young, who is handling the Cook IVC filter claims.

Judge Young has also directed attorneys to prepare a group of representative cases to serve as potential bellwether test trials. However, he is encouraging the parties to pursue settlement negotiations, which have reportedly progressed over the past year, leading to the possibility that large numbers of claims could be resolved 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.

Sign up for more legal news that could affect you or your family.