C.R. Bard faces a new lawsuit from a consumer alleging that he sustained personal injury from IVC filter side effects including tilting and perforation.

Plaintiff Ruben M. recently filed a lawsuit against C.R. Bard Inc., Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., and others, alleging that he experienced IVC filter side effects after being implanted with a Bard IVC filter.

Ruben says he was implanted with the G2 IVC filter system at the recommendation of his doctor. He says that due to IVC filter side effects including tilting, fracture, migration, and perforation, Ruben has had to undergo extensive monitoring in order to remain healthy. This monitoring will continue indefinitely, according to the lawsuit, as defective IVC filters must be watched to prevent perforation of the vena cava and possible death.

The vena cava is a large blood vessel which transports blood from the lower extremities to the heart. Blood in the deep veins of the legs can be prone to clotting and, when this clotted blood is transported through the lungs it can cause pulmonary embolism – a blockage of the blood vessels in the lungs.

Pulmonary embolism can be life threatening if untreated as the flow of blood and distribution of oxygen is compromised. The solution to excessive clotting and persistent pulmonary embolism may be an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter.

IVC filters are small devices which can be placed into the vena cava to break up clots from the lower body before they reach the lungs and heart. In at risk patients, these devices are effective in preventing life threatening pulmonary embolism, heart attack, stroke, and more. However, studies suggest that Bard IVC filter side effects can be extremely dangerous and is related to IVC filter side effects including tilting, fracture, migration, and perforation.

Tilting occurs when an IVC filter becomes out of line due to a defect. A tilted IVC filter is far more likely to cause life threatening damage to a patient through vena caval perforation. Fracture of an IVC filter may occur due to defective manufacturing. If an IVC filter fractures, the pieces left over can more easily move around the body. Migration of these pieces, or of whole IVC filters, can be extremely dangerous as the device can perforate blood vessels, tissue, organs, and more.

Ruben claims that as early as 2003, the defendants knew about the IVC filter side effects associated with the G2 filter but failed to warn consumers about the life threatening complications associated with their product.

“Defendants knew or reasonably should have known that the Recovery, G2, G2 X filters were dangerous or were likely to be dangerous when used in its intended or reasonably foreseeable manner,” Ruben claims in his IVC filter side effects lawsuit. “Defendants breached their duty to exercise reasonable and prudent care in failing to give appropriate warnings about the particular risks.”

Ruben’s lawsuit is not the first to hit CR Bard over the allegedly defective G2 IVC filters. A number of other patients have allegedly experienced severe side effects from the G2 and other IVC filters since removable filters were introduced on the market.

Ruben seeks economic damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The IVC Filter Side Effects Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-00969-LJV in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.