As many as 250,000 Americans are implanted with IVC Filters every year, making it one of the most popular medical devices in the country. These small, spider-like nets are implanted into a patient’s blood stream as a filter to prevent dangerous blood clots from traveling to the heart and lungs.

However, these devices come at a deadly cost. A recent NBC News investigation revealed that as many as 27 deaths have been associated with the Recovery Filter, manufactured by medical giant CR Bard. We’ve posted the NBC News video at the bottom of this page for your convenience.

Worse, after learning of the damage its product was causing, Bard never took steps to make the product safer or remove it from the market. Instead the executives at Bard turned to Hill and Knowton, the masterminds behind big tobacco’s media strategy. Together, the two companies formulated a plan to downplay the risks of the Recovery Filter and mislead the public in order to protect share prices. Bard also commissioned a confidential study that revealed the serious risk of filter fracture, migration within the blood stream and death but, again, did nothing to remedy the problem.

Bard’s scheme of misinformation was so successful not even doctors were aware of how deadly IVC Filters could be. This put patients like Dodi Froehlich, a 45-year-old mother of two, perilously close to death. In 2004, she was implanted with Bard’s Recovery Filter following a car accident. Several months after it was implanted, she was rushed to a hospital after her heart stopped beating. Doctors had no choice but to perform emergency surgery to remove a metal shard which had broken off from the filter and migrated to her heart.

Now, there are thousands of patients implanted with IVC Filters walking around every day. Many have already been injured. If you or a loved one suffered injury because of a defective IVC Filter, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact Us to Learn More!

This article is part one of Oxner Permar + Richardson’s series on Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filters.