In January 2021, the Nashville product liability team at DRS Law filed a wrongful death lawsuit against breast implant manufacturer Allergan. The complaint was filed in Missouri on behalf of plaintiff Calvin Parr and his late wife, Lizabeth.
Mr. Parr lost his wife last year to BIA-ALCL, a type of lymphoma associated with breast implants. BIA-ALCL primarily develops in patients who have had textured breast implants at some point in their lives. Although medical professionals are not yet certain how textured implants cause BIA-ALCL, nearly all reported cases of BIA-ALCL in the United States have been traced to Allergan’s Biocell textured breast implants.
Mr. Parr’s complaint alleges that his late wife was exposed to two sets of Allergan Biocell textured implants. She received the first saline implants in 2002, and replaced them with silicone in 2010. Some early studies suggest that more cases of BIA-ALCL are linked to silicone implants than saline implants, but this hypothesis is still being researched.
Following her BIA-ALCL diagnosis in November 2018, Mrs. Parr underwent multiple rounds of cancer treatment. However, the cancer continued to spread, leading to her death in August 2019. Mrs. Parr’s death is believed to be the 34th fatality related to BIA-ALCL.
The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that Allergan knew of the dangers posed by its textured implants, and should have taken measures to warn patients sooner. Allergan issued a worldwide recall of certain implants last year, but only after the FDA determined that most cases of BIA-ALCL (and related fatalities) were linked to the company’s implants.
Since the FDA’s report and Allergan’s recall, dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the breast implant manufacturer. Earlier this year, four suits were consolidated in New Jersey, allowing for more efficient litigation. Since the consolidation, twenty-five other federal cases have arisen against Allergan.
