Joanna Szabo  |  November 22, 2017

Category: Legal News

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cardiac infection, surgical teamYet another cardiac surgery infection lawsuit has been added to the growing litigation alleging that certain contaminated surgical devices are causing dangerous infections.

An Indiana couple, plaintiffs Nancy and William S., recently filed their cardiac surgery infection lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that a contaminated heater cooler system used during Nancy’s aortic valve replacement surgery led to a serious infection.

According to the cardiac surgery infection lawsuit, Nancy underwent her aortic valve replacement in February 2015. During the surgery, a cardiac heater cooler device was used. The cardiac surgery infection lawsuit alleges that the device was contaminated, causing Nancy to develop a serious infection.

A few months later, in August 2015, Nancy began experiencing symptoms like severe coughing, shortness of breath, fevers, and fatigue. She was diagnosed with an infection, and had to come back to the doctor multiple times in the following weeks.

In June of the next year, Nancy underwent a CT scan, which found concerning results in her lung that indicated a possibility of MAC disease, or Mycobacterium avium complex. She was examined for this disease in October 2016 and tested positive for MAC in December 2016.

Nancy’s MAC infection has had a number of serious consequences. She has to undergo MAC therapy, including a regimen of drugs, monthly metabolic panels and a complete blood count. Her therapy is expected to last for at least a year.

On top of the painful medical procedures required to treat her MAC infection, Nancy and her family also have to deal with the substantial medical costs that go along with this treatment.

The specific cardiac heater cooler device involved in this cardiac surgery infection lawsuit is the Sorin 3T Heater-Cooler System. Nancy’s claim is not the first complaint about this machine.

Nancy filed her cardiac surgery infection lawsuit on Oct. 18, 2017, raising claims including negligence, design defect, manufacturing defect, and warnings defects. Nancy’s husband William also filed on one count of loss of spousal consortium.

Cardiac Heater Cooler Devices

The heart surgery devices implicated in cardiac surgery infection lawsuit and other lawsuits like it are commonly known as cardiac heater cooler devices. Cardiac heater cooler devices are used during open heart surgery to help regulate a patient’s body temperature, warming and cooling the blood and organs as necessary. The water used in the system, once aerosolized, is what spreads the infection.

Cardiac heater cooler devices are made by a number of manufacturers, including LivaNova, which manufactured the Sorin 3T involved in this lawsuit.

Heart Surgery Infection

Of course, any surgical procedure will come with certain risks. However, the use of a contaminated heater cooler device has been linked with even more significant infection risks, including Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and Nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM).

Both of these infections are serious and can have lasting consequences, as well as require extensive treatment and medical expenses.

For some patients, symptoms begin to surface shortly after they are infected from the use of a contaminated cardiac surgery device. For many others, however, the symptoms of heart surgery infection remain dormant for several months after the initial procedure, which can prevent patients from immediately making the connection between the use of a contaminated device and their subsequent heart surgery infection.

The CDC released a warning to consumers about these contaminated heater cooler devices and the associated risk of infection.

If you or someone you love has suffered from an cardiac surgery infection after an open heart surgery with the use of a cardiac heater cooler device, you may be able to file a lawsuit or join a class action lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit cannot take away the physical and emotional effects of such a serious infection, but it can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses and lost wages.

The Cardiac Surgery Infection Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-00644-GNS, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The cardiac heater-cooler attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, cardiac heater-cooler lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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