Ticking time bombs implanted in hundreds of thousands

Is a ticking time bomb sitting in your arteries right now?

It’s not cholesterol or plaque — it’s a shoddy medical device you’re counting on to save your life.

Dozens of people have died — and hundreds more have been injured — after having a Bard Recovery Filter (BRF) implanted in their arteries. It’s supposed to stop blood clots from traveling to your heart or lungs, but tiny metal pieces can break off and puncture your organs instead.

And with more victims coming out of the woodwork, we may be witnessing one of the most senseless medical tragedies I can remember.

Because it looks like our government could have stopped this bloodshed. And if you or someone you love has one of these deadly devices inside you right now, there’s a good chance your doctor was supposed to remove it years ago.

A life sentenceDodi Froehlich cheated death twice.

Once when she survived a horrific car crash — and again when a piece of the Bard Recovery Filter she got after her accident broke and cut open her heart.

The Bard units are part of a class of dangerous metal devices called IVC filters that are now implanted in about 250,000 people a year to catch and stop clots.

When IVC filters were introduced 30 years ago, they were only supposed to be used on serious trauma victims.

But I don’t have to tell you what happened next. If you’ve been to a hospital in recent years for anything from knee surgery to a broken bone, there’s a good chance you had an IVC filter jammed into an artery.

And you need to find out right away if it was a Bard.

The Bard Recovery Filter has already been linked to 27 deaths and more than 300 injuries, thanks to pieces breaking off and tearing hearts, lungs and arteries. The device is so dangerous that the FDA initially refused to approve it.

And when manufacturer C.R. Bard submitted it again, the project leader Kay Fuller was so alarmed by the safety data she wouldn’t put her name on the application. She even told NBC News that someone forged her signature to get the filter approved.

The FDA knows all of this, of course. And it’s doing what the agency does best — absolutely nothing.

The Bard Recovery Filter — and a new version introduced in 2005 that doesn’t look any better — is sitting in countless patients right now, waiting to kill again. And while many are being told that the safest course of action is to leave the filters in, that’s just not true.

You see, these IVC filters are supposed to be temporary, but it appears they are anything but.

A study done two years ago found that they’re removed in only a third of patients. The majority of people who have them inserted walk around with them inside their arteries for the rest of their lives.

And the longer they stay in, the more likely it is that they will fracture, move, cause a blood clot, or puncture a vital organ or artery. Plus, after a certain amount of time, they become extremely difficult to remove.

So if you think there’s any possibility that one of these IVC filters — especially the Bard brand — might have been implanted in you, you need to consult with your doctor as soon as possible to see what can be done to remove it.

And if you’re lucky enough not to have the Bard, or any other such horrible device inside you, do whatever it takes to make sure you never get one.

Sources:

“Did blood-clot filter used on thousands of Americans have fatal flaw?” Tim Sandler, Stacey Naggiar, Stephanie Gosk, September 3, 2015, NBC News, nbcnews.com

“Did forged signature clear way for dangerous blood-clot filter?” Time Sandler, Stacey Naggiar, Stephanie Gosk, September 4, 2015, NBC News, nbcnews.com

“Inferior vena cava filters: debatable benefit; rarely removed” PulmCCM, pulmccm.org