Bard PowerPort Catheter Lawsuit Update

Catheters are reliable devices that have been in use for years. Due to serious design flaws, the Bard PowerPort Catheter has been linked with bloodstream infections, embolisms, deep vein thrombosis, and other injuries that may be fatal.

Design flaw-related injuries are typically preventable. Often these companies are aware of the flaw, but they don’t correct the flaw for cost reasons. They calculate that the cost of repair outweighs the costs of paying lawsuit settlements. A product liability attorney can make companies like Bard pay the price for such calculations.

About the Bard PowerPort Catheter

Light and thin catheters are always preferable to thick and heavy ones. Such catheters are easier for caregivers to handle and less intrusive to patients. However, the Bard PowerPort Catheter is so light and thin that it deteriorates, especially after heavy use. The broken-off bits migrate through the body, causing serious problems.

These issues include serious yet preventable injuries that, in many cases, could be life-threatening, such as:

• Sepsis/Blood Infections: Sepsis is a serious condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection. The infection-fighting processes turn on the body, causing the organs to work poorly. Sepsis may progress to septic shock. This is a dramatic drop in blood pressure that can damage the lungs, kidney, liver and other organs. When the damage is severe, it’s fatal.
• Thrombotic Stroke/Clotting Stroke: This is a stroke caused by a blood clot in the arteries supplying blood to the brain. In extreme cases, these clots could cause a pulmonary embolism. A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot restricts blood flow to the lung.
• Device Migration: Catheters are designed to deliver the right drugs to the right part of the body at the right time. The port may shift from its original place, causing the drug to leak into surrounding tissue or restricted blood flow. If the shifted catheter fragments, these fragments often puncture organs and rupture blood vessels.

These victims are already in poor physical shape, making them especially prone to such serious injuries.

FDA Complaints

After years of complaints, the Food and Drug Administration finally took action in 2020. The FDA issued a limited recall due to issues with the catheter’s tip. That recall was limited to three models and expired in 2022. Usually in these situations, companies don’t address underlying issues. They simply provide a temporary solution and wait for the clock to expire, so they can continue selling cheap, defective products.

Recalls don’t help victims. They don’t compensate victims for their losses. Only a pharmaceutical litigation lawyer can do that.

Class Action Lawsuits

If an implanted Bard PowerPort injured you or a loved one, and that catheter was implanted before 1996, you may be eligible to join the growing number of plaintiffs in the Bard Catheter MDL.

Because the company ignored such a high possibility of such serious injuries, substantial compensation could be available. However, MDL (Multidistrict Litigation) settlements are usually not distributed equally among victims.

Usually, Class 1 victims, who came forward early, receive the lion’s share of MDL settlement money, since they took the most risk. Class 2 plaintiffs, who jumped on the bandwagon after Class 1 plaintiffs did the heavy lifting, receive less. Class 3 plaintiffs, who submit claims after the case settles, receive whatever’s left over.

So, to receive maximum compensation, victims must come forward now, while the Bard Catheter MDL is still in its early stages.

Defective products cause serious injuries. のために 無料相談 と experienced products liability lawyer, contact ナポリ・シュコルニク. We do not charge upfront legal fees and only recover a fee when we win.