Major medical device company C.R. Bard continued selling its blood clot filter devices despite major vein filter complications, reports say.

Bard had initially released a blood clot filter onto the market that reportedly resulted in 27 deaths as well as hundreds of vein filter complications.

Soon afterwards, the company replaced that first device with a second one, allegedly knowing that this new device had similar attributes and potentially similarly dangerous vein filter complications.

The first device, known as Bard’s Recovery filter, was soon after replaced with its G2 series filters.

However, just four months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared these new G2 filters for sale, reports of vein filter complications and failures began to come in.

Despite the adverse event reports over the new filter, the company kept the G2 filters on the market for another five years, until 2010.

In that time period, Bard sold G2 filters. However, the adverse event reports over G2 filters involved at least 12 deaths and hundreds of vein filter complications.

According to Dr. William Kuo, “All of the data we’ve seen in our own studies, as well as other clinician researchers’, is that this device consistently fractures, consistently causes major complications.”

Dr. Kuo is an interventional radiologist from Stanford Health Care’s IVC Filter Clinic. His focus is in removing these kinds of failed blood clot filters after a patient experiences vein filter complications.

“The number of complications, the frequency of severe failures makes it obvious that it was never safe to be implanted,” Dr. Kuo said.

Blood Clot Filter Basics

A blood clot filter, also known as an IVC filter because of its placement in the inferior vena cava, is used to prevent blood clots from entering a person’s lungs or heart, which can cause major complications or even death.

A blood clot obstructing the inferior vena cava is extremely serious, because this vein carries blood from the lower body into the heart.

Millions of IVC filters have been implanted in American patients over the last ten years or so. Eleven different manufacturers make IVC filters, and in most cases, patients suffer no significant ill effects.

Vein Filter Complications

Serious vein filter complications have been reported by patients implanted with these Bard IVC devices. Incorrect initial placement of an IVC filter can cause these issues, as this can lead to the device being forced more and more out of place over time.

Vein filter complications include:

• Vein Perforation
• Organ perforation
• Device migration/breakage
• Pulmonary embolism

The FDA has recommended that Bard include safety warnings encouraging doctors to remove these blood clot filters after the patient no longer needs protection from blood clots. In some cases, however, IVC removal can be considered too dangerous.

If you or someone you love has experienced vein filter complications like organ perforation, you may be able to file a lawsuit.

Filing a blood clot filter lawsuit cannot repair the physical damage a patient suffers as a result of vein filter complications, but it can help to compensate for the physical, emotional, and financial losses caused by such problems.