What's next
For surgical teams, the Bair Hugger cases could have profound
impact. The device has become a fixture in many ORs to prevent
patient hypothermia.
For some, a lawsuit on its own is not enough to change practice. T.
Andrew Bowdle, MD, PhD, FASE, professor of anesthesiology and
pharmaceutics at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., says
you need to weigh the hypothetical risks of the Bair Hugger against
the well-known risks of hypothermia, which include increased bleed-
ing, SSIs and impaired wound healing.
"When the Bair Hugger came along, it was really transformational,"
says Dr. Bowdle, "because it was the first time you could prevent seri-
ous hypothermia in virtually all surgical patients."
Still proud
Despite his very public campaign against the Bair Hugger, Dr.
Augustine says he's still proud of his invention and that it helped put
patient warming on the map. As far as his ongoing challenge to 3M, he
says it's nothing personal. He says his lab is working on 20 different
projects and his life "doesn't revolve around Bair Hugger or HotDog."
"I don't have a vendetta against 3M," he says. "I just want them to
stop using my invention to stop causing infections."
OSM
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