Raizner Slania has filed a Bair Hugger MRSA lawsuit on behalf of a North Carolina man against 3M Company and Arizant Healthcare. The man alleges the companies failed to warn him that the Bair Hugger warming blanket has a serious infection risk due to its design.
In June 2014, the plaintiff underwent surgery in which the Bair Hugger device was used throughout the course and scope of his right total hip arthroplasty. The Bair Hugger works by sucking in air from the operating room, heating it, and dispersing it over the patient via a blanket with holes. This allows contaminants in the operating room air to be forced into a patient’s open surgical wounds. As a direct result of the Bair Hugger, the plaintiff sustained a periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), also referred to as a deep joint infection (DJI). The pathogen identified was MRSA.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, is a type of the common staph infection that has grown to become resistant to the antibiotics normally used to treat infections. Ordinarily, the presence of bacteria triggers the body’s immune system response, however, when there is bacteria on an artificial joint, the immune system is not triggered. With a natural resistance to antibiotics and without the immune system’s response, treating a MRSA deep joint infection is incredibly difficult.
In order to fight the MRSA infection caused by the Bair Hugger warming blanket, the plaintiff was forced to undergo extensive medical treatment, including removal and replacement surgeries, aspirations, placements and removals of antibiotic spacers, incision and drainage, and long-term PICC line antibiotics.
The plaintiff has not only suffered physically from the infection caused by the Bair Hugger, but also economically, in the cost of medical treatments. The plaintiff believes the Bair Hugger is defective in both design and manufacture and that 3M Company and Arizant Healthcare negligently misrepresented the safety of the device.
Bair Hugger MRSA Lawsuits
Manufacturers failed to warn patients of the infection risk associated with the Bair Hugger. If you or someone you love suffered an infection after a hip or knee joint surgery within the last five years, call the Bair Hugger MRSA attorneys at Raizner Slania today. We can help you protect your rights and pursue compensation on your behalf.
