Lawsuits have been filed by people who were hospitalized when their Bard PowerPort broke, cracked, leaked medication, or stopped working and needed surgery.
What You Can Do & How We Can Help
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting Bard PowerPort induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know was injured by a Bard PowerPort that broke, leaked, or needed surgery, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Defective Medical Device Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
UPDATE: Bard PowerPort Lawsuit Claims It Leaked Chemo Drugs
In July 2023, a lawsuit was filed by a terminally-ill man with colon cancer who was severely injured when his Bard PowerPort broke and leaked chemotherapy medication directly into his body. Click here to read more.
Thousands of People May Qualify for Bard PowerPort Lawsuits
The Bard PowerPort is one of the most popular ports for people with cancer and other long-term medical conditions that require routine IV access. Approximately 300,000 PowerPort devices have been implanted in patients worldwide. Unfortunately, a report in 2021 found a shocking 59% complication rate among Bard PowerPort patients, which means that thousands of patients may qualify to file lawsuits.
What is the Bard Power Port?
The Bard PowerPort is a medical device that is also called a Port-a-cath or a chemotherapy port. The port is implanted under the skin and connected to a catheter tube that empties into a vein.
The Bard PowerPort consists of two main parts:
- The port, which is a soft silicone device that is implanted totally under the patient’s skin on their arm or chest. The port is where a needle is inserted.
- The catheter, which is a long flexible tube that connects the port to a large central vein deep inside the body.
What Patients Need an Implanted Port?
The Bard PowerPort and similar devices are typically implanted in patients who need repeated IV medications, fluids, or blood draws for conditions like cancer, Crohn’s disease, severe infections, kidney failure, IBD, and more.
The port gives nurses and doctors an easy access point to deliver medications, IV fluids, nutrition, blood products, or to draw blood samples.
The catheter tube is also connected to a large vein deeper inside the body, rather than a small vein near the surface of the skin that can be easily damaged by repeated IVs and blood draws. This helps avoid “chemo veins” and other vein injuries.
What is the Problem?
Lawsuits have been filed by people who claim that the Bard PowerPort is defective because the catheter tube can crack, leak medications, and increase the risk of infections, blood clots, internal bleeding due to damaged blood vessels, organ damage, or death.
What is the Risk?
- Catheter leaks, breaks, or cracks
- Perforations of internal organs, tissues, or blood vessels
- Hemorrhage (bleeding)
- Cardiac / pericardial tamponade
- Cardiac arrhythmia
- Heart attack symptoms
- Pain
- Infections
- Sepsis (bloodstream infections)
- Thromboembolism (blood clots)
- Death
Catheter Fracture
One of the most serious problems associated with the Bard PowerPort occurs when the catheter fractures, cracks, breaks, or leaks medications. In some cases, broken pieces of the catheter travel in the patient’s bloodstream, where they can damage veins or internal organs.
Catheter Infection
Infections are a common problem associated with the Bard PowerPort and other implantable ports, usually soon after the device is implanted. The risk includes bloodstream infections (sepsis), tissue necrosis around the PowerPort, and chronic pain or soreness around the port.
Catheter Migration & Breakage
Catheter migration is a problem that occurs when the tube detaches from the port and moves away from its intended location. Sometimes, broken parts of the catheter may even travel in the patient’s bloodstream, get stuck in the heart, or cause other life-threatening complications. Emergency surgery is usually necessary to remove the broken pieces when a PowerPort catheter migrates or breaks inside the body.
Bard PowerPort Lawsuit Filed by Woman With Blood Clots
In February 2023, a lawsuit was filed by a woman from Missouri who developed blood clots and had to have her Bard PowerPort removed with an emergency surgery only 3 weeks after it was implanted.
The plaintiff, Patrice T., was implanted with a Bard PowerPort Single Lumen ClearVue Implantable Port in March 2022 to make it easier to receive chemotherapy for her colon cancer. Unfortunately, only about 3 weeks after the PowerPort was implanted, she was hospitalized with life-threatening blood clots (also known as a “thromboembolism”).
According to her lawsuit, the catheter on the Bard PowerPort is defective because manufacturing errors have “led to an irregular catheter surface replete with fissures, pits and cracks.” Furthermore, “the roughened catheter surface leads to the collection and proliferation of fibrous blood products, thereby drastically increasing the risk of thromboembolism.”
The lawsuit was filed February 10, 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri — Case Number 4:23-cv-00100-BP.
Another Lawsuit Claims PowerPort Catheter Tube Can Crack
The catheter tube on the Bard PowerPort is made of a flexible polyurethane (plastic) material called Chronoflex®.
According to a recent lawsuit, manufacturing defects with the catheter can lead to “an irregular catheter surface replete with fissures, pits and cracks.” The rough surface of the catheter also drastically increases the risk of thromboembolism, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit was filed by Mary N., a woman from Missouri who was implatned with a Bard PowerPort in February 2021 for the treatment of Crohn’s disease. About two weeks later, the PowerPort stopped functioning and she was hospitalized with a bloodstream infection.
Her lawsuit was filed against C.R. Bard Inc. and Becton, Dickinson and Company on February 28, 2023 — Case Number 2:23-cv-01173-SDW-MAH.
Bard PowerPort Recall (2021)
In March 2021, Bard initiated a Class II recall for certain PowerPort Duo M.R.I. Implantable Ports due to problems with the catheter. According to the recall, “catheters may experience difficulty in flushing, infusion, and/or aspiration, and septum dislodgements.”
Do I have a Bard PowerPort Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting Bard PowerPort induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know was injured by a Bard PowerPort that broke, leaked, or needed surgery, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Defective Medical Device Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
Attention Lawyers: We consider a referral from another law firm to be one of the greatest compliments. If your firm is interested in referring us a case or for us to send you a list of previous award judgments and/or average referral fees, please visit the Lawyer Referral section of our website.
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs' law firms and handles cases in all 50 states. We are very proud of our legal achievements, but equally self-respecting of our firm's reputation for providing personal attention to each and every client we represent.
