Patients who have undergone heart surgery with the use of a heater cooler device may be at risk of serious heater cooler infections.

A growing number of injured patients are filing surgical infection lawsuits, alleging that these heater cooler infections are a direct result of being treated with a contaminated heart surgery device. These heater cooler infections can be dangerous and, in some cases, even life-threatening.

Contaminated Heater Cooler Devices

Heater cooler devices are commonly used during heart surgeries to regulate a patient’s blood and organ temperature. The device is used throughout surgery to warm and cool the patient’s blood as necessary. A number of medical device manufacturers make heater cooler devices.

Unfortunately, some of these heater cooler devices may actually be contaminated, which leaves heart surgery patients open for serious infections. More and more heart surgery patients are filing lawsuits over heater cooler infections, but they are not the only ones concerned about this risk.

Indeed, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released a warning to consumers over the serious risk of heater cooler infections linked with these devices.

According to the CDC, certain heater cooler devices may have been contaminated during the manufacturing process, placing patients who undergo heart surgery with the device at the risk of developing serious heater cooler infections, including Nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM).

This warning applies to patients who have undergone heart surgery prior to 2012.

Heater Cooler Infections

Heart surgery patients who have been exposed to a contaminated heater cooler device may be at risk of developing heater cooler infections. One of the most serious of these infections is nontuberculous mycobacterium, more commonly referred to simply as NTM.

NTM symptoms include:

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

Symptoms of these heater cooler infections may not actually surface immediately after infection. For some, the appearance of these symptoms may take weeks or even months after infection. This can hinder patients from connecting the dots between the heater cooler device used during heart surgery and the infection that appears months later, which in turn can lead to a delayed diagnosis.

NTM is not a contagious disease, and can’t spread from person to person. However, it is a serious and life-threatening illness and in some cases, patients may have to go through over a year of recovery.

Fortunately, NTM is a relatively rare occurrence. But despite its rarity, an NTM infection after open heart surgery can have permanent consequences, even becoming fatal for some patients. In fact, the CDC reports that the contamination of heater cooler devices may have led to infections that contributed to 28 deaths across the country.

Filing a Lawsuit Over Heater Cooler Infections

If you or someone you love has suffered from NTM or another infection after undergoing heart surgery with a heater cooler device, you may be able to file a surgical infection lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by heater cooler infections, but it can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses and lost wages.