Some patients, while undergoing open heart surgery, reap the benefits of a medical device called a cardiac heater cooler. However, some patients have reported developing an infection after heart surgery that has been traced back to the use of their cardiac heater cooler devices.

What is a Cardiac Heater Cooler Device?

A cardiac heater cooler device is a medical device used during open heart surgery to keep a patient’s body warm or cool during surgery. This is important because it can support a patient’s stability during surgery and aid in their recovery time following the surgery.

This medical device has a tank with water in it that keeps other devices, like warming blankets, warm or cool depending upon the patient’s needs. Water never comes in contact with the patient, but a certain bacteria that rarely infects humans has been found in a popular model of cardiac heater coolers.

This water can be aerosolized in the sterile operating room and infect the patient. The patient can develop infection after heart surgery because this bacteria is present in the air finding its way into the patient during surgery.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has made the public aware that the Stockert 3T heater cooler device made by LivaNova carry a risk for infection after heart surgery. The M. chimaera bacteria has been found in the water reservoirs of these devices.

Heater cooler devices are used in thousands of heart surgeries every year and the LivaNova device is used in a large number of them. In fact, the LivaNova cardiac heater cooler is used in about 60 percent of the 250,000 bypass surgeries that are performed in the United States annually.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a similar warning in 2016 which was updated in October 2017. The CDC warning came after the FDA warning, but both warnings are similar. Patients who have undergone cardiac surgery should be aware of the symptoms of possible infection after heart surgery.

Some of these symptoms include vomiting and nausea, fatigue, muscle aches and night sweats, joint pain, weight loss, fever and a persistent or bloody cough.

The M. chimaera infection does not usually affect humans as it is normally found in soil. In humans it is not immediately severe, but if left untreated, it can become dangerous. Many doctors do not know to look for this type of infection after heart surgery, but with growing reports of M. chimaera infection after heart surgery, more patients have be diagnosed.

The CDC did an investigation and discovered that the same bacteria that was causing infection after heart surgery in certain patients was the same bacteria that was found in the LivaNova cardiac heater cooler devices.

A European study also discovered that M. chimaera samples taken from sick patients were the same as M. chimaera samples found at the German manufacturing facility where the cardiac heater coolers were made.

If you underwent cardiac surgery using a cardiac heater cooler device and experienced infection after heart surgery, you may be eligible for legal compensation.

In general, heart surgery infection lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions. After you fill out the form, the 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.

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