Chemo Port Recall: Bard PowerPort Safety, FDA Actions and Lawsuits

Bard (now a part of Becton, Dickinson and Company) issued a PowerPort recall in 2019 that affected 178 devices. This chemo port recall was not for the Chronoflex catheter fracture issue that is at the heart of over 2,800 PowerPort lawsuits. 

So far, despite hundreds of injury reports, Bard hasn’t issued a recall for catheter fractures. The company has stated that it stands behind the safety of its products.

According to the FDA recall details, the 2019 Bard PowerPort recall involved 178 devices that may have contained the wrong catheter tip. Bard didn’t report any injuries associated with this recall, but it said the wrong catheter tip could prolong surgery for some patients.

Despite the FDA receiving hundreds of MAUDE adverse event reports for PowerPort injuries such as blood clots, infections and catheter fractures, Bard has not issued a recall. There hasn’t been an FDA chemo port warning for this issue either.

Other Chemo Port Recalls — A Reference for Port Patients

The FDA has issued recalls for several brands of implanted port catheters in recent years. We’ve included a brief reference to the most notable actions below.

The most serious of these recalls is the 2025 Smiths Medical ProPort recall. The FDA has stated that the defective device can lead to serious injury and death.

All of the recalls were voluntarily reported by the manufacturer, and none of the recalls mentioned above involve Chronoflex catheter fracture issues.

While there are currently over 2,800 Bard PowerPort lawsuits that make up most of the chemo port litigation, port catheter problems involve multiple manufacturers. For example, AngioDynamics port lawsuits also allege these chemo ports can cause injuries.

Bard PowerPort recalls don’t always cover all the port catheter side effects patients experience, and lawsuits allege PowerPort catheters made with a defective material called Chronoflex can break and cause blood clots, infections or organ failure that can be fatal. The FDA has received hundreds of reports of these issues, but there hasn’t been a recall for these specific problems.

For example, in one FDA report, a patient complained of chest pain, and doctors found that a piece of a fractured PowerPort catheter had travelled to her heart. Another FDA report said a PowerPort patient complained of chest pain that went up the side of her neck and head, and ER doctors found she had blood clots. 

If you had a chemo port removed after an injury such as a broken catheter, infection or a blood clot, you may not have known the device could be defective because there wasn’t a recall. 

“What’s important for people to understand is that the litigation isn’t just about recalled models. The claims we’re filing focus on systemic design flaws that make many versions of the PowerPort prone to fracture or failure, even if they were never officially recalled,” product liability attorney Moshe Horn of Simmons Hanly Conroy told Consumer Notice.

People who require long-term medications, blood transfusions or nutritional support are the main people who can be affected by chemo port injuries, such as blood clots, infections and organ damage from catheter fractures — especially cancer patients.

Those who received a PowerPort and used it for months or years might not have realized symptoms such as fever, chest pain or repeated infections could be related to a defective chemo port.

In some cases, the chemo port may have led to long hospital stays because of infections that require strong antibiotic treatments. Your doctor might have mentioned that a piece of your chemo port broke off, or that you had to undergo treatment for blood clots and the port had to be removed.

People who experienced these injuries have filed lawsuits against Bard’s parent company, Becton Dickinson (BD). More than 2,800 cases have been grouped together in federal court (MDL 3081), and lawyers expect more to be filed.

MDL is short for multidistrict litigation, a process where a large group of similar cases is consolidated to make litigation cheaper and more efficient. You can join an MDL from anywhere in the country.

If you had a chemo port that broke or you suffered a chemo port injury, you can take steps to safeguard your health as well as look into your legal options. Here are a few steps you can take.

If you’re interested in filing a lawsuit, a licensed attorney can investigate your chemo port experience by asking a few simple questions and let you know if you qualify for a product liability claim.