Surgical Warming Blanket Lawsuit

Did you or a loved one undergo hip or knee replacement surgery between 2014 and the present, and develop an infection within one year of the surgery that required an additional surgery?

Lawsuits against Bair Hugger claimed that the company’s surgical warming blankets led to serious infections that required additional surgery or amputations.

After knee or hip replacement surgeries, some patients had complications that resulted in deep-joint infections that were difficult to treat. Patients say they developed MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is an antibiotic-resistant infection that can lead to skin infection, sepsis, pneumonia, and bloodstream infection. Others have even lost limbs to infections or had a loved one die.

Lawsuits claim infections caused:

• Additional surgeries
• Hospitalization
• Amputation
• Death

Surgical Warming Blanket Lawsuit

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received hundreds of adverse event reports, including multiple reports about patient deaths, relating to Bair Hugger devices since 2013.

In January 2018, 3M recalled 165,000 Bair Hugger warming blankets for a design defect. Some blankets failed to fully inflate after the company redesigned the system’s underbody blankets. 3M warned in its recall letter that partial inflation could prevent proper warming.

3M and Arizant continue to advertise the blankets as safe and effective in all surgeries, including orthopedic procedures. The manufacturers contend that 170 studies have found forced-air warming to be safe.

However, Dr. Scott Augustine — the inventor of Bair Hugger products — claims those studies are misleading and measured the wrong things. He has urged 3M and Arizant to recall the devices.