'A Patient Voice' Community

Dear kzaller,

I am sorry to hear of your experience. I'm just going to mention that I don't see any photo, but even if I did, I'm not a doctor and it wouldn't make any difference.

I think your idea to consult with a lawyer is a good plan. He or she will be able to discuss what happened with you, and let you know if he or she thinks there are legal steps that you should be taking.

Hopefully if we have any members who've experienced problems like yours, they'll share their story with you soon.

Best wishes,

Byroney

hello, K --

you might want to take a look at an earlier thread about bard ports -- http://forums.webmd.com/3/chronic-disease-and-disability-exchange/forum/594?@guest .

-- susie margaret

Dear kzaller: I understand your trauma. I received a Bard Power Port Jan. 12, 2011 and it has never worked but has caused much pain and anxiety. Bard refuses to discuss it until I return the port to them. Now that is a clear admission of guilt! My chemotherapy nurses can rarely access it and my infusion clinic refuses to try again. When it is accessed, it constantly closes and then cannot be purged because they cannot get any blood flow back but when they remove the needle, it sprays blood and bleeding cannot be stopped which results in massive bruising and swelling! The nurses cannot find the 3 nodules because of the swelling! All nurses and 2 doctors of Oncology have said it is defective and dangerous and must be removed immediately but the surgeons who implanted it are stone walling. They are apparently too cozy with Bard! They know if it is removed, it will be proven defective, so why are they and Bard hiding? I'll probably have to go to Mexico to get it removed because I have fired all those doctors and I've found you CANNOT find a doctor to correct another doctor's mistakes! What a great system we have!

jebppr,

I'm very interested in your post. I have a genetic illness called Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Protein Deficency which requires weekly infusions of an augmentation therapy called Prolastin. My veins were starting to squawk a year into the thearpy (I have to have it for the rest of my life.) So my pulmonologist had me get a port. The IR department installed a Bard Power Port in October of 2010. The first 2 months were great, with no problems. But in December we started having issues with no blood return when accessed. Christmas Eve the problem started again, and we played around with it so much I actually ended up passing out and stopped breathing. That earned me a Christmas hospital stay with all sorts of tests and garbage. But they accessed my port fine so they didn't consider it a problem. Low and behold the next week, problems again. My pulmonologist ordered an IR consult where they discoverd the port had not healed into a area of scar tissue event though it had been anchored to some tissue, so it was moving around and hard to access. So the assumption was that the home nurse wasn't keeping it stable enough and it was moving on her. (By the way the 3 bumps are a joke, we can see one clear as a bell but the other 2 are never findable). A month and a half ago my nurse pushed a little heparin after she got no blood return again, and out came a small clot, then the blood came pouring out into the tube. But low and behold the next week, same problem. 5 weeks ago I ended up in the ER AGAIN and they had the same problem as the nurse was having so they pushed a medication that was described as "draino for ports". I had to sit in ER for 3 hours while it worked but when they came back in to take it out, a whole bunch of thready fibrous clots came out with it. And for the next two weeks infusions were awesome. But now we've gone 3 weeks with no blood return and going back to regular IV as a fallback. This week I have to have a hep lock done so I called my pulmonologist. His nurse said that every one of their patients with this port has had the same problem and my pulmonologist was calling in a specialist to isolate the problem, take the ports out, inspect them and report his findings to the FDA. My pulmonologist doesn't mess around with this stuff for long and won't cover anybody's behind if his patients are not getting proper treatment. He's got all of my issues with the port documented in a folder and a timeline, as he's done with his other patients, and has obtained the lot numbers of every port. He is determined to get down to what's going on and will not hesitate to corner Bard about this port if it is found to be the problem. So not all doctors are willing to cover for companies, or let a patient suffer because they don't want to get involved. I hope you find a similar doctor soon, or maybe my doctor will get to the bottom of this with his own patients enough to help all the others in the country dealing with the same issues.

Thank goodness for doctor's like yours. I continue to experience bouts of post traumatic stress, nightmares, and crushing chest pain following a 2010 catheter separation from one of these ports, and the procedures to correct the problem. I have contacted an attorney without much success, because I think they still view the incidences regarding these port "isolated" and hesitate to move forward on that basis. I will watch this thread, Hope all with problems are healing. Peace.
pink

hello, all --

there is a new bard equipment thread at http://forums.webmd.com/3/chronic-disease-and-disability-exchange/forum/875/0?@guest in case anyone can help that person.

-- susie margaret

Im curious to know if youve had your port removed and know what was causing this? My son had his first bard port placed in June and it worked great the first couple of months then we started having the exact same problems as you. After 2 dye studies they found the hole in the back of the port. He had it removed on wed. and it not only had 1 but 6 holes where the needle had gone through. I wonder if it is the same lot number. The hospital had 12 of the same ports out and 10 of the 12 have all had the same problem they have sinced pulled these out of that hospital.

Hi k...so sorry to hear of your son's problems with his BARD port. There have been SO many instances of these ports failing. After my incident (I had complete catheter separation and the catheter moved into my heart). The hospital in my area has also stopped using these ports a little over a year ago. Not all BARD Ports, but specifically their Power Port device. I have information regarding a class action suit against this company. Since I began my thread regarding my incident, I have had many MANY people contact me here on Web MD or at my personal email. Everything from poor blood return, to the "bumps" on the top of the units eroding thru the skin, to holes in catheters/ports like your son had, to discplaced catheters and complete catheter separation as in my case, is represented. You can contact me directly for the information if you are interested. My email is tracyr2@comcast.net . Peace.
pink

Dear Kzaller,
I have a Bard Powerport as well. 2 yrs ago the tubing fractured and a 4" piece of tubing went into my heart, crossed the tri-cuspid valve and sat in the ventricle of my heart for 9 days before my doctors could figure out why I was having life threatening arrhythmias ( SVTs, irregular heartbeats). Once they discovered what the problem was they sent me to Interventional Radiology where they removed it thru my groin after 5 tries. Since then Im still having heart problems. I got an attorney and we filed a lawsuit. It did not go well for us because Bard wasnt interesting in defending the case because the piece of tubing they removed frm my heart "disappeared". I have heard this very same thing has happened over and over again. Where are these port pieces going? I thought hospitals were supposed to retain any device that is removed from a patient. Especially if the device has failed. So where are all these ports and tubes going?
In addition, we couldnt find any doctors that were willing to testify that my current heart problems were absolutely caused by the tubing going into my heart. They said my heart problems were caused by a disease that I have. However, I never had any heart problems before all this happened. But none the less, no one was willing to testify for us so we withdrew our case.
We are currently working on refiling the case in a different way. In the last few days I have been parked in front of my computer reading all these threads. I am appalled that so many people have had the same problems that I had. Bard needs to get with the program and make their ports safer.
I currently am having trouble with my 3nd PowerPort failing. We havent been able to draw blood out of it for months. Most of the time the people that try to access it are unable to do so. We have gone to several doctors and clinics to see why the port isnt working and no one can tell us anything. But this Thursday Im having my 3 Bard PowerPort implanted. I have a terminal disease that requires a lot of IVs. When they arent able to access my port they have to do periperal IVs. If there was any way to get by without a port I would do it. But it is totally medically necessary so I dont have a choice. But to need 3 PowerPorts in 2 yrs in horrible.
A couple of weeks ago I was scheduled for an MRI where they needed veinous access. They were unable to access my port so they put an IV in my hand. The IV infiltrated and caused a 4" long bloodclot on my arm and a 3" bloodclot on my hand. There is no reason why this should have happened. When you have a port there is usually a good reason why you have one! You wouldnt get one if it werent warranted. But time after time they have been unable to make my port work and I end up having IVs in other places. This is INSANITY!
So, to all you people out there that are having trouble with their ports, demand that Bard do something about it. Get a good attorney that specializes in Medical Device Failure and go for it!
My prayers are with you all. Blessings to you,
Ciaranani

hello, all --

i have compiled a list of all of the threads i could find on bard power ports at http://forums.webmd.com/3/chronic-disease-and-disability-exchange/forum/979 . looking at these will give you a good idea of what problems are out there plus contact info for several of the people who have had problems such as yours.

i have also compiled a summary of the procedures for making a complaint to the FDA, http://forums.webmd.com/3/chronic-disease-and-disability-exchange/forum/980 (with extensive borrowing from one or two of the messages here, thank you very much!).

as far as I can tell, these two lists are accurate up to july 4, 2012. I hope they are helpful to you.

-- susie margaret

Do you know the batch number to your port.because I just had one put in5 days ago and I scared to death after reading all these post

Can you tell me the I.D or batch number on your Bard Power Port?
I just had one implanted 5 days ago .I am scared to death after reading all these post.My first port had stopped working.although it was not a Bard.

Do you have the I.D or batch number to your Port ? I am really concerned.I just had a BPP put in 5 days a go