More and more patients are coming forward with reports of infection following heart surgery, claiming that their dangerous infection was caused by the use of a contaminated device.

One children’s hospital has seen a recent surge of problems with infection following heart surgery in a number of their patients. The infections that have surfaced so far came after surgeries that took place earlier this year in June and July.

Hospital officials are worried that there may be more still to surface—potentially as many as a dozen cases that may appear after the fact.

The contaminated device implicated here is a cardiac heater-cooler system known as the LivaNova Stockert 3T device. This device was included in a warning from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) back in October of last year. Despite the warning, these children at the Children’s Hospital began suffering infection following heart surgery several months later.

According to the Chief Medical Officer at Children’s Hospital, Dr. John Heaton, the hospital was, in fact, aware of the report. Dr. Heaton noted that they had Stockert 3T devices when they became aware of the warning. “We got rid of it, then we adopted advanced disinfecting techniques that they advocated at that time.”

Despite this, children began suffering infection following heart surgery anyway. The hospital has now discontinued the use of the Stockert cardiac heater-cooler device entirely.

Some children, however, may still be at risk. Infection following heart surgery can lie dormant for some time. For some, an infection following heart surgery does not appear until months later, which can be a bit of a disconnect for patients that may lead to a delayed diagnosis

Some of the parents of these children treated at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans have come together and are planning to file a lawsuit alleging that the infection following heart surgery was caused by contaminated hospital equipment.

The potential lawsuit is in the early stages now. One plaintiff’s attorney said that “Our goal and charge is to figure out what Children’s Hospital knew, when and what they should have done.”

Cardiac Heater Cooler Devices

The contaminated heart surgery devices involved in this and similar lawsuits 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. Cardiac heater cooler devices are made by a number of manufacturers.

Infection Following Heart Surgery

Of course, any surgical procedure will come with certain risks of infection. However, the 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 can include:

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

Filing a Lawsuit Over Infection Following Heart Surgery

If you, your child, or someone else you love has suffered from an NTM infection following 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.