A growing number of heart surgery patients are coming forward with allegations of a serious heart surgery infection, sometimes even months after their surgery. Some have begun filing lawsuits, claiming that their heart surgery infection was caused by a common medical device used during their surgery months before.

This medical device is a cardiac heater cooler system, and it is used during open heart surgery procedures to help regulate a patient’s body temperature. However, more and more patients allege that they have suffered a heart surgery infection due to the cardiac heater cooler system used during the procedure being contaminated, introducing the infection.

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. Cardiac heater cooler devices are made by a number of manufacturers.

Heart Surgery Infection

Of course, any surgical procedure will come with certain risks of infection. However, the serious heart surgery infection linked with the use of a contaminated heater cooler device is particularly serious. It is known as nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM), and it can become quite severe.

Symptoms of an NTM infection include:

• Night sweats
• Aching muscles
• Joint pain
• Weight loss
• Fatigue
• Fever

For some patients, symptoms begin to surface shortly after they are infected from the use of a contaminated heart surgery device. For many others, however, the symptoms of heart surgery infection remain dormant for up to several months after the initial infection. This lag time can prevent patients from immediately making the connection between the use of a contaminated device and their subsequent heart surgery infection. A delayed diagnosis of months or even years can mean that a patient will not be properly treated, placing them at an even greater risk.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) shares this concern. The CDC released a warning to consumers about these contaminated heater cooler devices and the associated risk of infection. The CDC warned that during the certain devices may have become contaminated during the manufacturing process, and that patients who undergo surgery with the use of a contaminated device may be at risk of developing a serious infection.

While the CDC has stated that the “overall risk of [Mycobacterium] infection is low relative to other complications following surgery,” when it does occur, it may quickly become fatal.

Injured patients have begun filing lawsuits alleging that they have suffered from NTM heart surgery infection as a direct result of the use of a contaminated cardiac heater cooler device during surgery.

Filing a Heart Surgery Infection Lawsuit

If you or someone you love has suffered from an NTM heart 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.