Medical device manufacturer Bard faces a growing number of lawsuits over injuries from its PowerPort implantable catheter devices. As of December 2025, approximately 2,463 product defect cases are pending in Arizona federal court, with the first trials scheduled to begin in spring 2026.
Doyle APC attorneys are reviewing injury claims involving catheter fractures and migrations through blood vessels, life-threatening infections and blood clots, cardiac complications requiring intervention, and device failures requiring surgical removal.
How to Identify if You Have a Bard PowerPort
Patients who receive Bard PowerPort devices are typically given a PowerPort ID Card by their implanting physician. This distinctive pink card contains critical information about the specific device including the manufacturer’s name, device name, model number, serial number, lot number, and implantation date.
Some recipients may also receive a rubber PowerPort bracelet with different colors identifying the specific port device implanted. These identification items are essential because medical providers must know exactly which port device was implanted, as different ports have different pressure ratings for fluid intake.
If you’re unsure whether you have a Bard PowerPort device, check your medical records or contact your healthcare provider who performed the implantation procedure.
PowerPort Device Complications
The Bard PowerPort litigation involves several documented device complications that have led to serious patient harm. Court records show that PowerPort failures often manifest as catheter fractures, where pieces of the device break off and migrate through blood vessels. These fragments can cause severe damage, requiring emergency medical intervention and device removal.
Other significant complications documented in the litigation include deep vein thrombosis, where dangerous blood clots form around the catheter, pulmonary embolism when clot fragments travel to the lungs, and tissue erosion, where the device damages surrounding blood vessels and tissue. Many patients have experienced chronic infections, sepsis, and other serious conditions requiring removal of the device, while others report complete port failure that prevents proper medication delivery.
A particularly concerning issue is Pinch-Off Syndrome, where the catheter becomes compressed between the collarbone and first rib. This compression can lead to device malfunction and potential fracture of the catheter.
Device failures may require additional surgeries, extended hospitalization, and ongoing medical treatment. These complications often result in significant medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages that may be compensable through legal action. In the most tragic cases, PowerPort complications have resulted in wrongful death.
December 2025 Litigation Update
The Bard PowerPort lawsuits are consolidated in Arizona federal court as IN RE: Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3081. Judge David G. Campbell is overseeing the proceedings.
The litigation has grown substantially throughout 2025, with 2,463 cases now pending in this mass tort proceeding and new filings continuing at a pace of several hundred cases per month. Legal analysts estimate the litigation could ultimately involve 8,000 to 12,000 claims based on the approximately 300,000 PowerPort devices implanted nationwide.
Judge Campbell has selected six cases for bellwether trials, which will test the strength of claims before juries and help establish settlement values. The first trial is scheduled for April 21, 2026, with five additional trials set through early 2027. These bellwether cases include three infection claims, two blood clot cases, and one fracture case, representing the range of injuries plaintiffs have suffered.
A critical development occurred in December 2024 when the court resolved questions about corporate liability. Becton Dickinson, which acquired C.R. Bard for approximately $24 billion in 2017, has been confirmed as a defendant facing full exposure for settlements or judgments. This ensures substantial financial resources stand behind any compensation awarded to injured patients.
PowerPort Catheter Defects Leading to Device Failure
The PowerPort devices were designed to use catheters made of a polymeric mixture of polyurethane and barium sulfate called Chronoflex AL. Barium sulfate is known to adversely affect the mechanical integrity of polyurethane by dissociating from the catheter’s surface, leaving microfractures and other changes which degrade the catheter’s integrity.
The lawsuits allege Bard’s manufacturing process involves using too high a concentration of barium sulfate, resulting in uneven particle distribution that creates weak points throughout the catheter. Over time, these areas of degradation and structural weakness can cause the catheter to fracture or allow for the accumulation of bacteria causing infection.
FDA Adverse Event Reports
A key issue in this litigation involves Bard’s reporting of adverse events. For years, Bard utilized an FDA exemption program that allowed them to submit adverse event reports to a non-public database rather than the publicly accessible MAUDE database. This Alternative Summary Reporting Program permitted manufacturers to file quarterly or annual summary reports instead of individual reports for each adverse event.
An investigative report by Kaiser Health in 2019 exposed this practice, revealing that millions of adverse events for various medical devices had been hidden from public view. Plaintiffs allege Bard filed approximately 87 to 90 percent of PowerPort adverse events through this program, keeping over 9,000 injury reports hidden until the FDA terminated the exemption in 2019 and disclosed the data in 2022.
The lawsuits claim that Bard categorized PowerPort complications as compression or pinch-off events, characterizing them as known risks resulting from physician error rather than device defects. Plaintiffs contend this allowed the company to avoid public disclosure of the true scope of patient injuries.
PowerPort Device Background
Bard’s PowerPort is an implantable vascular access device, sometimes called a port-a-cath, designed to provide repeated access to the vascular system for the delivery of medication, intravenous fluids, parenteral nutrition solutions, and blood products. The device is about the size of a quarter and is surgically placed under the skin with a catheter inserted into one of the body’s large central veins.
Because PowerPort devices allow high injection rates of contrast agents used in CT and MRI scans, they are often implanted in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. These patients, already facing serious health challenges, deserve medical devices that function safely and reliably.
Bard’s first PowerPort device was cleared by the FDA in 2000 via the 510(k) process. Unlike the more rigorous Pre-Market Approval process, which requires significant data showing a device is safe and effective, the 510(k) process only requires showing a device is substantially similar to one already on the market.
Several implantable ports and catheters are sold under Bard’s PowerPort brand, including the Bard PowerPort MRI Implantable Port, Bard Groshong MRI Implantable Injection PowerPort, and Groshong Central Venous Catheter. Regardless of which specific model you received, you may be eligible to pursue a claim if you have experienced complications.
Bard PowerPort Legal Claims and Defendants
The primary claims in the PowerPort lawsuits include strict liability for design and manufacturing defects, failure to warn patients and physicians of known risks, negligence, breach of warranties, fraudulent concealment of adverse event data, and violation of state consumer protection laws.
The defendants are Bard Access Systems, Inc., C.R. Bard, Inc., and Becton, Dickinson and Company. Becton Dickinson’s prior experience resolving the related Bard hernia mesh litigation for over $1 billion demonstrates the company’s capacity for large-scale medical device settlements.
Free Case Evaluation
Have you or a loved one experienced complications with a PowerPort, such as device migration, fractures, severe infections, or blood clots? In cases involving wrongful death, family members may be eligible to pursue claims. Our experienced medical device attorneys will review your medical records at no cost and explain your legal options.
We handle all cases on a contingency basis, which means you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Statutes of limitations restrict the time available to file a claim, so prompt consultation is advisable.
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