A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against the manufacturers of a device used in open heart surgery rooms to keep a patient’s body at a healthy temperature.

The widow of a heart surgery patient has filed a nontuberculous mycobacterium lawsuit against the makers of the Stockert 3T heater cooler system, claiming her husband died from a bacterial infection he contracted as a result of the medical device.

The man allegedly died of M. chimaera, a form ofnontuberculous mycobacterium that is not often dangerous in humans. M. chimaera is most often found in soil.

However, it has also been found in a device known as a cardiac heater cooler. A cardiac heater cooler is designed to help keep a patient at the optimum temperature during open heart surgery. These devices are very common and are used around the country.

The Stockert 3T surgical heater cooler system is the device linked with patients contracting M. chimaera. Allegedly, this form of nontuberculosis mycobacterium found its way into the device during manufacturing. Water is used in cardiac heater coolers during surgery, and that water can become contaminated with M. chimaera.

While the water does not come into contact with patients directly, when used in device such as this, water can become aerosolized and then come into contact with patient in the otherwise sterilized environment of the operation room.

This past September, plaintiff Danna B. filed a nontuberculous mycobacterium lawsuit against Sorin Group, the makers of the Stockert 3T device used when her husband had heart surgery after a heart attack.

Following her husband’s surgery, Danna alleges he developed a slow growing mycobacterium chimaera or M. chimaera infection, according to her nontuberculous mycobacterium lawsuit.

According to this nontuberculous mycobacterium lawsuit, he began complaining to his doctor of fatigue and sudden and rapid weight loss in July 2016. He wasn’t able to obtain antibiotics until two months later, but this nontuberculous mycobacterium lawsuit claims that by that time, it was too late.

Unfortunately, Danna’s husband died. It was determined that M. chimaera was to blame for his death and it was confirmed that the Stockert 3T heater cooler was used during his previous surgery, Danna says.

In October 2016, just a short while after Danna’s husband died, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an alert notifying hospitals of the possibility of nontuberculoous mycobacterium associated with the Stockert 3T heater coolers.

Allegedly, the makers of the Stockert 3T heater cooler knew about the link between M. chimaera and their devices for years before this. In Europe, the tracking of these nontuberculous mycobacterium or NTM infections began more than ten years ago.

Most recently, in the summer of 2017, complaints were filed against Children’s Hospital of New Orleans by parents whose children had undergone heart surgery and subsequently developed forms of M. chimaera infections. One child has been diagnosed with a M. chimaera infection, and many more are at risk.

If you or someone you love has undergone cardiac surgery with the assistance of a cardiac heater cooler and have developed an infection, you may be eligible to file a nontuberculous mycobacterium lawsuit.