Bair Hugger Surgical Blanket Litigation

The Farrar & Ball medical product liability trial team is leading efforts nationwide to raise warnings about infection injuries caused by the 3M Co. Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket. Our team was the first to file litigation related to documented Bair Hugger design flaws that have resulted in more than 100 incidents of serious infection in patients who have undergone surgical procedures while using the device.

In addition to filing the first Bair Hugger infection injury lawsuit, Farrar & Ball litigators are aggressively prosecuting these claims. First to force Bair Hugger corporate representatives to answer questions under oath in depositions and first to obtain documents in discovery, our work was instrumental in prompting a federal judicial panel to consolidate federal injury lawsuits in multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Minnesota court before U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen.

The 3M Co. Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket came under increasing scrutiny after the inventor of the product, Dr. Scott Augustine, first blew the whistle with concerns that the product’s design heightens risks that patients undergoing surgical procedures could be exposed to dangerous bacteria that can cause infection. Since then, independent researchers at Bone and Joint Journal have documented a significant increase in infection risk for patients who have used the Bair Hugger device during surgery.

After developing the Bair Hugger blanket and seeing it adopted in hospital operating facilities across the country, Dr. Augustine began to raise questions about concerns that heat generated by the unit placed under surgical tables can create convection currents in operating rooms, effectively stirring up bacteria and contaminants on the floor and increasing the likelihood of infection, particularly during procedures involving joint replacement. Infections are caused by exposure to infectious agents including viruses and bacteria, and medical facilities in particular must be increasingly vigilant about the spread of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Contact Farrar & Ball for more information about Bair Hugger infection and our expertise in medical product liability litigation.