pain just seems less
when they're warm.
They're not shivering,
they're not stiff. You
just can't relax when
you're in the PACU
shivering, Ms. Borello
says.
Lawsuits' impact
minimal, but …
It's impossible to talk about patient warming without at least address-
ing the state of the 3M lawsuits and their effect on outpatient facili-
ties. As Outpatient Surgery reported in August (osmag.net/YNnu4Q),
a federal court dismissed more than 5,000 lawsuits against 3M that
claimed its Bair Hugger device was responsible for infections suffered
by patients during surgery. The dismissal is the latest in a 6-year legal
battle between plaintiffs and 3M, and comes on the heels of the
Minnesota Court of Appeals upholding a state court order that dis-
missed 61 similar lawsuits against the company's patient warming sys-
tem. The judge's memorandum does not impact 2 similar state court
cases against 3M's Bair Hugger (one in Missouri and one in Texas),
which are ongoing.
We asked readers whether the lawsuits against the Bair Hugger
system impacted their attitudes toward and/or their use of forced-air
warming systems. While most readers (93.3%) said the lawsuits did
not have an impact, 6.7% said the legal action against the most popu-
lar patient warming system on the market did affect their attitudes,
policies or both. And that small percentage had some interesting
things to say about the latest chapter in the forced-air warming con-
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 7 9
• THE X-FACTOR The warmer and more comfortable patients feel throughout the
entire surgical process, the more likely they'll be to give your facility a better overall
review.
