Karina Basso  |  August 12, 2015

Category: Legal News

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bair hugger lawsuit 3M Company and Arizant Healthcare Inc. are being sued in a Bair Hugger lawsuit by a Michigan plaintiff, who claims the medical device meant to keep patients warm during surgery caused him severe and permanent personal injuries.

Plaintiff William L. filed this Bair Hugger lawsuit at the end of July of this year, alleging that because the Bair Hugger was used during his hip surgery, he was injured and continues to suffer from the side effects of that injury.

According to the Bair Hugger lawsuit, William underwent a left hip replacement surgery back in August 2012, at which time the Bair Hugger was used to keep his body at a comfortable temperature. However, the plaintiff alleges that the disposable medical device–which works by blowing heated, forced air onto a patient during surgery–introduced contaminants to William’s open surgical wound, which led to an infection.

William’s infection, allegedly caused by the Bair Hugger’s faulty design system, required him to undergo three more surgeries in order to remove the hip implant, as well as to clean the dead, infected tissue in the plaintiff’s leg.

The Bair Hugger lawsuit states, “Ultimately, the majority of Plaintiff’s thigh muscle was removed as a result of the infection. Plaintiff continues to suffer substantial damages, including but not limited to impaired mobility, making the simple movement of walking a challenge.” The complaint alleges that the Bair Hugger-induced infection caused William permanent injury and damage that he contends with to this day.

William brings several allegations against the disposable heated blanket’s manufacturers, including negligence, violation of Minnesota’s Consumer Protection and Deceptive Trade Practices laws, strict liability-failure to warn and defective design, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and fraudulent concealment.

The plaintiff is seeking an award for compensatory damages, punitive damages, cost of attorney’s fees, and other relief deemed fit by the court, according to the Bair Hugger lawsuit.

The Bair Hugger Lawsuit is Case No. 0:15-cv-03139-JNE-FLN, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Background on Bair Hugger

The Bair Hugger is a medical device made up of a portable heater/blower that is connected to a disposable blanket by a flexible hose. This blanket is placed over or sometimes under surgical patients and warms the patients by blowing hot air directly onto the person’s exposed skin.

However, according to the Bair Hugger lawsuit:

“The hot air produced by Bair Hugger accumulates under the surgical drape covering the patient and escapes from under the surgical drape below the level of the surgical table or at the head end of the surgical table. This escaped air creates air flow currents that flow against the downward air flow of the operating room. As this warmed air rises, it deposits bacteria from the floor of the surgical room into the surgical site”

Additionally, the complaint claims that from 2002 to 2009, Arizant and 3M reduced the efficiency for the Bair Hugger blowers’ air filtration system, which in turn reduced the safety of the blower and allowed for the warm air being blown into the surgical area to become contaminated with pathogens. This Bair Hugger’s alleged design defect is claimed to have led to William’s injury and may be responsible for countless other patients’ post-surgical injuries, as 50,000 Bair Hugger devices are currently in use across the United States.

In general, Bair Hugger lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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