Some patients who develop an infection after undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery have filed lawsuits against the makers of a device named Bair Hugger. The device is used in a number of hip and knee replacement surgery and may be linked to some serious side effects.
The Bair Hugger device is usually used without the patients knowledge. The device is a warming blanket used to help maintain a patient’s body temperature during surgery. Doctors utilize devices to maintain a patient’s body temperature because studies have shown that maintaining proper body temperature can reduce bleeding, speed up recovery time, and provide other benefits.
Surgical warming blankets, such as Bair Hugger, work like a forced-air heater, pushing warm air through a hose into a blanket covering a patient. The device releases warm air over a patient’s body, but also releases air under the surgical table. The air released under the table may have the potential to cause bacteria and germs to spread throughout the room, landing on a patient’s surgical site. This may cause an infection in the patient’s knee or hip, such as sepsis and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Unfortunately, these infections are very difficult to treat when they occur deep in a patient’s joint.
Treatment for these infections include a combination of antibiotic therapy and surgeries. In some cases joint fusion, amputation, or removal and a two-stage revision surgery may be necessary. Those patients unable to undergo a second surgery are usually treated with long-term antibiotics.
If you or a loved one suffered from an infection after undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery, you may be entitled to compensation. Our law office handles these type of lawsuits across the country. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.