Bard PowerPort Lawsuit FAQs

What Injuries Do Plaintiffs Believe the Bard PowerPort Causes?

The PowerPort is an implanted catheter device that delivers medication or fluids, such as chemotherapy. According to patients who received these implants and are now suing the manufacturer, the catheter has serious design or manufacturing flaws.

Lawsuit plaintiffs allege that this device poses three significant issues, all based on the brittle material (and the lack of a protective coating) used to make it:

• Fracture: The device can break, and parts can become stuck in the patient’s vascular system, causing serious damage.
• Migration: The broken parts can migrate to other parts of the body and cause significant injuries.
• Infection: When the material breaks down or fractures, bacteria can enter, increasing the risk of infection.

What are the Criteria for Joining the Bard PowerPort Lawsuit?

If you experienced the following, you may be able to join the Bard PowerPort multidistrict litigation (MDL) that is now in progress to hold the company accountable. This includes:

• You received a Bard PowerPort device implant,
• Your PowerPort broke, migrated, or suffered another type of related failure, and
• You suffered serious injuries because of the PowerPort’s failure, such as requiring surgical repair or other additional medical attention.

If you meet these criteria, your best option to learn more about your rights is to contact us for a free, confidential consultation. We can connect you with a Bard PowerPort lawsuit lawyer near you. We have carefully selected law firm partners who are among the most successful firms nationwide.

What Is the Bard PowerPort Lawsuit?

The Bard PowerPort lawsuit is officially known as MDL 3081 IN RE: Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation. As of September 3, 2024, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation listed 427 plaintiffs participating in the mass tort.

This case is currently in pretrial motions and discovery. In the coming months, they should select cases that will serve as bellwether trials. It is under the oversight of Sr. District Judge David G. Campbell in the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona.

Who Is the Defendant in the Bard PowerPort Lawsuit?

C.R. Bard, Inc. manufactures the PowerPort catheter. This company is well-known for producing many types of medical devices, including several types of implants, hospital implements, and surgical instruments. Since 2017, Bard has been owned by Becton, Dickinson, and Company.

Bard is no stranger to this type of litigation. They have previously faced multidistrict litigation for issues related to IVC filters and implantable mesh patches and are still in litigation related to hernia mesh.

How Does Multidistrict Litigation Work?

Multidistrict litigation consolidates similar cases based on the same facts into a single mass tort for pretrial motions, discovery, and several initial court cases, known as bellwether trials. These trials allow each side to see how a jury reacts to the case facts and often lead to a resolution without each one returning to its original jurisdiction to go to trial.

The purpose of an MDL is to keep many similar cases from clogging the lower courts with hundreds or thousands of cases. MDLs are heard by experienced judges in U.S. District Courts.

Only the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation can decide to consolidate cases into an MDL. An MDL allows the plaintiffs to combine resources and build a stronger case, which is often necessary since defendants in many dangerous drug or defective product MDLs are multinational corporations.

How Much Is a Bard PowerPort Lawsuit Worth?

It is too early in the MDL to know how much a settlement offer in the Bard PowerPort lawsuit might be worth. This case is still in the initial stages, with pretrial motions and discovery taking place. Settlement offers are most common following discovery or bellwether trials. The selection of the initial bellwether cases could still be months away and a year or more from those jury trials taking place.

Many factors affect the possible recoverable damages in a dangerous medical device case. This could include:

• The strength of the evidence against the defendant
• When the company was aware of the defect or concern
• The severity of the injuries that occurred
• The plaintiff’s expenses and losses
• The type of settlement offered, which could include global, tiered, or individual
• Any applicable laws, such as caps on certain types of compensation

In general, all plaintiffs should be able to recover money for their economic and non-economic damages, covering medical care costs, future expenses and losses, pain and suffering, and more. Some may be eligible for punitive damages, too, which penalize the defendants for particularly bad behavior.

How Long Do I Have to Join the Bard PowerPort Lawsuit?

Several factors determine how long you have to join the PowerPort lawsuit. This includes the statute of limitations in your state and the speed at which the MDL proceeds. As of September 2024, plaintiffs are still joining MDL 3081. Your attorney can file the paperwork to add your complaint to the mass tort today. You should act quickly to ensure you take advantage of the opportunity, though.