A woman who developed a severe infection after hip replacement surgery filed a surgical warming blanket lawsuit claims the Bair Hugger device is defective and caused her open surgical wound to be exposed to contaminants during surgery.

Plaintiff Cindy P. of Alabama alleges she underwent hip replacement surgery in January 2014. She developed a deep joint infection that required her to undergo additional surgical procedures to remove the implant and clean the infected area.

Cindy alleges in her surgical warming blanket lawsuit that she continues to suffer from impaired mobility and has difficulty walking, and has “endured substantial conscious pain and suffering, both physical and emotional.”

Cindy says her deep joint infection was caused by the Bair Hugger, a device that forces air into a disposable blanket that is draped over a patient during surgery.

Her Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket lawsuit claims the device can blow bacteria-tainted air directly onto a patient. The blower itself could also become contaminated with bacteria, leading to an infection.

The Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket lawsuit further alleges that 3M attempted to conceal its knowledge of the device’s unreasonably dangerous risks.

What is the Bair Hugger?

The Bair Hugger is 3M’s version of a forced hot air warming blanket. The purpose of the device is to help maintain a patient’s body temperature during surgery, which has proven to lessen bleeding, speed recovery time, and provide other benefits.

For this reason, forced air warming systems are often used during hip or knee replacement surgery to help maintain a patient’s core body temperature as close to normal as possible.

3M’s Bair Hugger works like a forced-air heater, pushing warm air through a flexible hose into a blanket draped over a patient. To work as intended, the device discharges warm air over a patient’s body, but also releases air under the surgical table.

The air discharged under the table may cause germs and bacteria to become dispersed and recirculated, landing on a patient’s surgical site, according to numerous filed complaints.

Recirculating contaminated air over an open surgical wound can result in an infection deep in the patient’s joint, such as sepsis and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). Unfortunately, these hospital infections are very difficult to treat.

Filing a Bair Hugger Surgical Warming Blanket Lawsuit

Even the inventor of the Bair Hugger warming system, Dr. Scott Augustine, has publicly voiced his concern that the device could be dangerous because the forced air can spread bacteria associated with hospital infections.

A number of Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket lawsuits have been filed against 3M alleging that the heat generated by the device can redirect air circulation during surgery.

These lawsuits have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation in Minnesota federal court. Judge Joan N. Erickson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota is presiding over the MDL. An MDL is similar to a class action lawsuit, except that each plaintiff’s allegation is judged separately.

Cindy’s Bair Hugger Surgical Warming Blanket Lawsuit is filed within the larger Bair Hugger MDL, In Re: Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2666 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.