Latest Updates about 3M™ Bair Hugger™ Therapy
January 9, 2018
Ruling notes Scott Augustine role in litigation 3M won a major victory on January 8, 2018, when a state court granted summary judgment in the litigation involving the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system. The ruling dismisses 61 lawsuits that had been filed by Minnesota plaintiffs who claimed the warming device had caused their infections. In its 19-page decision, the court said that “there is no generally […]
October 27, 2017
Another bellwether case has been voluntarily dismissed from the 3M Bair Hugger multi-district litigation. The law firm of Brown & Crouppen, which has aired more than 2,000 advertisements seeking patients who contracted surgical site infections, agreed to dismiss a lawsuit it filed on behalf of Kurtis and Debbie Skaar against 3M. Brown & Crouppen, claimed that Mr. Skaar developed an infection in 2014 as a result […]
October 27, 2017
In a recent self-published study, 3M competitor Scott Augustine used data from a New York hospital to claim that the use of his conductive warming device resulted in fewer infections during joint surgeries than the use of the market-leading 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system. But there is a critical flaw in Augustine’s study: the New York hospital has testified that it never used the Bair Hugger […]
August 31, 2017
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a letter reminding healthcare providers that it continues to recommend patients be warmed during surgery when clinically warranted. The FDA specifically mentioned that its recommendation includes the continued use of forced-air warming devices. The 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system is the world’s leading forced-air warming product. The FDA said it recently became aware that some providers and patients […]
August 30, 2017
Plaintiffs’ lawyers have spent millions of dollars soliticing patients who contracted infections during or after surgery, telling them that scientific evidence may suggest that their infections are related to patient warming. In a sign of a rush to file lawsuits, more than 100 cases against the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system already have been dismissed, with more expected in the coming months. 3M is vigorously challenging […]
August 22, 2017
Courts deny plaintiffs’ request to add punitive damages; raise questions about science underpinning lawsuits A federal court, as well as a Minnesota state court, have denied motions by plaintiffs’ attorneys to add claims for punitive damages to the bellwether trial pool cases and 56 cases pending in a Minnesota state court, a significant victory for 3M in its defense of the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system. […]
August 1, 2017
Plaintiffs drop case one month after court announced trial sequence One of the six lawsuits selected to be bellwether cases in the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ system litigation already has been dismissed. Attorneys for Jeffrey Knuteson asked the court to dismiss their case against 3M this month. Knuteson’s attorneys agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled. The dismissal came just one […]
July 20, 2017
The story of Ridgeview Medical Center is a classic example of the misrepresentations that form the foundation for the lawsuits against the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ system. 3M competitor Scott Augustine – the architect of the lawsuits against the Bair Hugger system – claims that Ridgeview reduced its infection rates in knee surgeries by 81% after it switched from the Bair Hugger system to his HotDog™ blanket. […]
January 19, 2017
Two more plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their lawsuits against the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ patient warming system. In recent months, attorneys for Lucy Acosta and Randall Cantrell withdrew all claims against 3M without prejudice. In her complaint filed in December 2015, Acosta had alleged that she contracted an infection during knee surgery in October 2013. She originally claimed that it was caused by the Bair Hugger warming device. […]
January 26, 2017
More than 1,700 medical patients have filed claims against the 3M Bair Hugger warming system. The lawsuits are part of a multi-district litigation that consolidates cases before one court in an effort to streamline the litigation. All of the lawsuits are based on a bogus theory that the Bair Hugger system may have caused an infection during surgery. None of the lawsuits offer any conclusive proof […]
February 26, 2017
Once again, a 3M competitor is bending the truth in an effort to incite more litigation and unease about the market-leading Bair Hugger patient warming device. Augustine Temperature Management is claiming that the FDA and CDC have warned against allowing anything in an operating room that blows air, including the Bair Hugger device (goodbye, surgeons!). The FDA and CDC have had recent discussions about medical devices […]
March 11, 2017
A 3M competitor once again is spreading inaccurate and malicious information about the market-leading 3M™ Bair Hugger™ patient warming system. Scott Augustine, maker of the HotDog warming blanket, has sent emails to medical providers stating that 3M is doing a “silent recall’’ by “quietly replacing Bair Hugger with an alternative device.’’ The emails are from Orthopedic Infection Advisory and StopSurgicalInfections.org, shell organizations supported by Augustine Temperature […]
March 11, 2017
Guess how many scientific studies prove that the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ Patient Warming System can cause surgical site infections? Zero. None. Nada. Now, guess how many publications show proven benefits of patient warming? Dozens and dozens and dozens. 3M recently published an interactive compendium of scientific research conducted over the past 25+ years related to the Bair Hugger warming system. It includes more than 200 publication summaries […]
March 17, 2017
3M competitor Scott Augustine testified that he helped engineer the first personal injury lawsuits against the 3M Bair Hugger warming device. Scott Augustine, CEO of Augustine Temperature Management, testified in a sworn statement to a Minnesota federal court, that he hired Houston law firm Kennedy Hodges LLP in July 2009, more than six years before the first lawsuits were filed against 3M. Augustine acknowledged that he […]
March 19, 2017
Dozens of plaintiffs drop claims before key deadline Dozens of plaintiffs are dropping their lawsuits against 3M™ and its Bair Hugger™ warming device in advance of a deadline that requires them to provide facts about their claims.To date, 50 plaintiffs with claims in the federal MDL have voluntarily asked to dismiss their cases. Throughout the prolonged smear campaign against its Bair Hugger system, 3M has been […]
April 19, 2017
Competitor who engineered lawsuits couldn’t prove his own theory Newly discovered documents and testimony reveal that medical researchers bankrolled by 3M competitor Scott Augustine tried and failed in efforts to show that the Bair Hugger warming system increased the amount of bacteria around an operating table. The blockbuster evidence once again confirms what 3M and its legal team have been arguing: There is no proof that […]