C.R. Bard has been ordered to pay $3.6 million in IVC filter compensation after losing a lawsuit claiming the company’s G2 inferior vena cava filter caused serious complications in a patient.

A Georgia woman filed this lawsuit against C.R. Bard Inc., after the company’s G2 IVC filter allegedly fractured in her body, leading to serious complications and risks to her health. The medical technologies company has been ordered to pay $3.6 million in IVC filter compensation, but still faces further legal issues around the efficacy and safety of its inferior vena cava (IVC) filters.

Over 3,600 similar lawsuits over alleged IVC filter complications have been filed against Bard in U.S. District Court in Arizona, where the cases have been centralized. The Georgia woman’s case is the first of these to go to trial.

An inferior vena cava filter is a small filter implanted in the vena cava to stop blood clots from traveling to the heart and lungs. This then can prevent a pulmonary embolism. However, some IVC filters, including the G2, are allegedly linked to serious, life-threatening complications.

Many IVC filters, including C.R. Bard’s G2, are meant to be temporary, designed to be removed once the patient’s risk of blood clots and pulmonary embolism is sufficiently reduced. Unfortunately, there is a risk of significant complications with IVC filters — in 2010, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration report showed that over 900 complications and adverse events have been associated with retrievable IVC filters.

To address these complications, in 2014, the FDA advised that temporary IVC filters should be removed generally within 29 to 54 days of implantation. However, in many cases, the filters are left in longer than they should be, increasing the risk of injury to a patient.

IVC filters are cage-like and made of wire, and in cases of complication, the filter can become dislodged, migrate within the vein, or fracture and release pieces of metal into a patient’s bloodstream. They have also been reported to have perforated the vena cava itself.

In the case of the Georgia woman, she claims that the C.R. Bard G2 filter was implanted in her body in 2007, and that the device then fractured, tilted, and migrated out of its original location. Allegedly, this migration caused the device to perforate her inferior vena cava in one or more places. She claims that though she had a subsequent surgery to remove the IVC filter, a piece of the filter is still in her body.

In the lawsuit, the Georgia woman was awarded IVC filter compensation — $1.6 million in actual damages, and $2 million in punitive damages from C.R. Bard. C.R. Bard was found to be 80 percent responsible for the harm she suffered.

If you or a loved one were implanted with an IVC filter, you may have a legal claim. Even if you did not suffer complications, you may have a claim and be able to receive IVC filter compensation based on the risks associated with having a temporary IVC implanted.